


All the Parts of H.E.R.

by nomsie500



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Deceit is Soledad, Everyone Is Gay, G.B.F. au, High School AU, Like really OOC, Logan is Fawcett, Logan is OOC, M/M, Patton is 'Shley, Remy is Brent, Roman is Caprice, Virgil is Tanner, everyone is closeted, it's great, some swearing sometimes, the story line is extremely altered
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-10-12 11:46:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 21,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17466980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nomsie500/pseuds/nomsie500
Summary: Virgil Daniels is just trying to get through his last year of high school without attracting too much attention to himself. One slip up brings the entire school's attention to him and he now has the three hottest guys in school pursuing him. Virgil has no idea what to do.Here is a G.B.F. au that no one wanted. Enjoy!





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This au is based on the movie G.B.F., a movie I highly recommend you watch if you haven't already. I borrowed the basic structure of the story and some of the language from the movie. Nothing but the changes to the storyline belong to me, everything else goes to the creators of both G.B.F. and the Sanders Sides. I hope you enjoy this weird little thing I decided to create!

There’s something about being first that really appeals to everybody. Being the first to introduce a new fashion trend, the first to have the hottest new item, the first to accomplish anything, really. It’s all about being a trendsetter, and Virgil Daniels did not see the appeal. He knew he could be a trendsetter in one particular area, but that was not something Virgil wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole.

You see, no one at North Gateway High had ever admitted to being a proud, full blown, card carrying homosexual, and unlike Virgil, Virgil’s best friend, Remy, was willing to change that. 

“Explain to me again why you would want to come out during prom?” Virgil asked his eccentric friend.

“Don’t you get it? The three hottest and most popular guys in school are all clearly as gay as they come, and they’ll all be battling for my attention once they notice I’m the only one who’s out and proud. I will be the center of attention and no one will be able to remember who the prom court was. I will go down in history, Virgil,” Remy explained as though it should be obvious to his friend why he would want to do this.

Virgil rolled his eyes exasperatedly at his oldest friend. “Well, promise me you won’t forget about me when you’re adopted by the populars.”

“How could I forget about you, Virgie?” Remy asked, playfully knocking into Virgil’s shoulder.

Virgil smiled at his best friend as he thought about the people Remy wanted to pursue him. The three boys in question were the heads of the three cliques that controlled almost all of North Gateway High in some form or fashion. 

There was Roman Winters, the school’s resident theatre geek who managed to charm anyone he met. His looks were a part of his charm, gorgeous chocolate brown eyes matched chocolate colored skin with hair that was black as night. Roman was nothing sort of dazzling. He promoted diversity and inclusion at the school in a way that connected the school’s loose network of minorities, no one felt unheard when involved in one of the many groups Roman oversaw. He also loved being the center of attention, and Virgil figured that that was why Roman loved theatre so much.

Next there was Pat Osgood. Pat was sort for Patton, and that was as edgy as the ginger puffball got. He was dedicated to the town’s church community and was a general ray of sunshine. His red ringlets surrounded his big brown eyes like a halo, giving him the appearance of an angel. He was well respected by everyone who knew him, he was the boy everyone’s parents wanted their child to bring home. Everyone loved Pat, he was just so open and full of light that it was no wonder he had acquired such a large following.

Lastly there was Logan Brooks, by far the hottest guy in school. Logan ruled over the rich and popular kids and was the one everyone wanted to emulate. He was the one to bring in all the fads that ran through the school and was known for hating imperfections. He also had beautiful golden blond hair that got him the title of best hair three years in a row, which should have been impossible because only seniors were supposed to get superlatives. 

The three kings held an uneasy truce, always civil towards each other but it wouldn’t take much to upset the balance. Once that was gone, social warfare was bound to break loose.

Virgil turned to face Remy to give him a puzzled look. “I get that Roman, Pat, and Logan are gorgeous and all, but why would you want to seriously date any of them?”

“Do you know them personally, Virgil?” Remy smiled mischievously. “No? Well, they may all be good people or whatever, and that would be great, but I’d love to leave high school with a bang and a higher social station. I want to be remembered, Virgil. I need a legacy!”

“You are such a dork, but fine, I see your point,” Virgil conceded, not able to be seriously annoyed with Remy for long periods of time. 

“That’s the spirit! You know what we have to do?” Remy asked, his eyes glinting with ideas.

“What?” Virgil asked, seemingly bored but actually very interested.

“Download Guydar! We have to see if there are any secret profiles that might lead you on the path of self-realization!” Remy replied, as if it should have been obvious to Virgil that this is what they were going to do.

“What does that even mean?” Virgil asked, suspicious and confused.

“You don’t want the populars, so you’ll have to find another closet case to be with,” Remy explained.

“That’s why I have you, genius,” Virgil smirked, bumping up against his friend.

“Shut UP!” Remy exclaimed, pulling Virgil towards his house.


	2. Chapter Two

When Virgil and Remy finally got to Remy’s house, the two made to run up the stairs with the hope of not seeing Remy’s mom. Today, they had no such luck.

“Hey, boys! Whatcha up to?” Mrs. Vancamp asked, a knowing look in her eyes.

“Oh, well we just got this huge math assignment. It’s gonna be really hard,” Remy replied while trying to inch up the stairs. Virgil just nodded in agreement, he knew how Remy’s mom could be.

Remy flashed his mom a smile and then booked it up the stairs to his room, dragging Virgil up with him. The two friends just barely heard the shout of, “Be safe… with your math!” from Mrs. Vancamp before Remy shut the door to his room.

“You realize that your mom not only knows but thinks that we’re a thing, right?” Virgil asked. “You could just tell her, confirm her suspicions and all that.”

“And give her the satisfaction of being right? No can do. I will take my own sweet time on this one,” Remy replied before putting on a pop song.

Virgil sighed and rolled his eyes. Remy knew that Virgil preferred bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, but he always insisted that he and Virgil have little dance parties when Virgil came over. Virgil accepted his fate and began bouncing around the room with his best friend. Remy was an unstoppable force, and Virgil had long since learned to not get in his way.

Remy and Virgil turned to the sound of the door opening and proceeded to stop dancing when Remy’s mom asked if everyone was decent.

“Yes, Mom, of course we are,” was Remy’s exasperated reply.

“Okay, okay, just checking,” Mrs. Vancamp said while uncovering her eyes. “Ooh this is a great song,” she remarked while beginning to bounce along to the music.

“Yeah, Mom. Umm, this dance party is kinda invitation only so…” Remy said, strongly indicating that he wanted her to leave.

“Oh, sure, honey. Just wanted you to know that I won’t be back up here for at least another hour, so you do you, boo!” Mrs. Vancamp announced, turning around to head back downstairs.

“Bye, Mom!” Remy called after her. 

Remy sighed and rolled his eyes. Virgil knew that Remy loved his mom, but he agreed with Remy about how she could be a bit much sometimes. 

“Let us download the app. We need to see if there are any other gays in this town other than the five we know about,” Remy said, snatching up Virgil’s phone to download the app. 

“Why is this going on my phone again?” Virgil asked, not entirely on board with the idea.

“Well, you don’t want to be buddies with me on the popular train, so we gotta find somebody for you. I don’t want you to be lonely, Virgie,” Remy explained. 

“I’m not lonely, I’m just not ready to date yet,” Virgil replied.

“We both know that’s a lie, Virgie,” Remy remarked, smirking at his best friend.

Virgil supposed Remy wasn’t totally wrong, but he wasn’t totally right either. Virgil liked the idea of having a boyfriend and meeting other gay people that weren’t Remy, but the reality of being out was terrifying to him. He didn’t know what people would think of him or how they would react, and Virgil feared the worst. Remy said it would all be fine, providing endless reassurances as they set up a profile for Virgil together.

Virgil didn’t know why he didn’t delete the profile when he went home that night, but he also didn’t think he had anything to worry about. This was a decision he came to regret the next day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Declan groaned in frustration, ready to tear his hair out. The faculty advisor for his GSA told him that the club couldn’t continue to exist if there weren’t any LGBTQ+ members. Sure, Declan was gay, but he wasn’t ready to admit that. He needed someone who was ready to be out and proud and he needed them to join the GSA immediately. He couldn’t have this taken away from him, it was the pinnacle of his college applications!

Declan spent hours thinking of what to do when an idea struck him. He immediately texted his best friend, Viola, setting up the groundwork for his plan. Tomorrow, someone was going to be outed.


	3. Chapter Three

Today was an off day, Virgil could tell. He couldn’t tell you why today seemed off or weird, but he knew that it was. This notion was only further supported when his math teacher took his phone during third period. Usually Virgil was careful when he texted Remy during class, but today was not one of those days.

Virgil was only slightly annoyed. For some reason, he felt as though his phone being taken would be trivial compared to what would come next. Virgil hated it when he was right about these vague feelings.

Virgil was making the long walk from lunch to his fifth period class when it happened. Suddenly he was ambushed by two of his friends who were looking absolutely hysterical.

“Virgil, it’s Declan! He’s using Guydar to track down gay guys that go to this school!” exclaimed one of his friends.

“What?” Virgil asked, not completely understanding at first. Then realization dawned on him. “Shit! My phone was taken in third period and I never signed off the app!”

Virgil took off in a dead sprint to get to where his third period class was held. He encountered Remy about halfway there and took his hand before taking off again.

“Virgil, what the hell is going on?” Remy asked, very confused as to why Virgil was running. Virgil never ran, even when he was required to.

“Declan is using Guydar to track down gay guys that go to North Gateway!” Virgil explained, stopping so he could breath.

“What does that have to do with you?” Remy replied, not fully grasping the gravity of the situation.

Virgil’s eyes widened at him, “My phone was taken in third period and I’m still signed on!”

Remy looked torn, “Virgie, I’m sorry, but this is on you. I have plans, you gotta go on your own.”

“What?!” Virgil exclaimed, “Why can’t we do this together?” 

“I told you, Virgie, I have plans,” Remy explained, shrugging his shoulders in a way that indicated that he wasn’t all that sorry.

“Ugh, I hate you!” Virgil shouted before taking off again. He had to try and save his phone and his privacy before Declan could do anything stupid.

Virgil burst into his third period classroom, and to his horror Declan and two of his cronies were questioning his math teacher about his Guydar profile. His math teacher noticed him in the doorway and asked if the phone Declan was referring to belonged to Virgil. Virgil hung his head and nodded, there was no use in denying it.

Declan’s eyes widened as he realized he was looking at Virgil Daniels, the most emo person he had ever met. “You’re gay?” Declan asked, not entirely sure what to do with the information.

“Yup. Now you know,” Virgil stated, taking the opportunity to snatch up his phone and leave. His math teacher didn’t even stop him from doing so, he felt bad for the kid, being outed in that way.

As Virgil walked to his fifth period class, he could hear the whispers that had already started. He was used to being practically invisible as he moved throughout the school, so all of this attention was foreign, and he hated it. Remy was so going to get it the next time Virgil saw him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pat Osgood watched the exchange between Virgil and Declan with unabashed curiosity. Virgil Daniels was gay? Who knew? He had to admit, the boy was pretty cute. Maybe if Pat got on his good side, he could win Virgil over and they could be the first openly gay couple in the school. Pat would love to have that over Roman and Logan.


	4. Chapter Four

Virgil decided to speed walk home that day. After the day he had, all he wanted to do was hide under the covers until the sun went away. Preferably, no one would make him leave his bed ever again. His luck seemed to go from bad to worse when Remy suddenly blocked his path.

“Hey, Virgil, what’s poppin’?” Remy asked. Virgil just stared at him, he had nothing to say to his supposed best friend.

Remy sighed, “Look, I know this is tough for you, but I really am sorry. Can we still be friends? I’ll help you, we’ll get through this together just like we always do.”

Virgil gave Remy a disbelieving look, “You really want to pretend that nothing happened? Because if you do, I can’t deal with you now or ever again. This is major for me, I will never be treated in the same way ever again. I can’t believe you want to brush this off like it’s nothing!”

“That’s not what I’m doing, Virgie. We just gotta make a plan, help you get the most out of this,” Remy replied, smiling encouragingly.

“Are you planning on coming out?” Virgil asked.

“I wasn’t planning on it, no,” Remy said, looking very uncomfortable.

“Well then that settles it,” Virgil responded, walking away from his friend.

Remy called out for Virgil to come back, but Virgil pretended not to hear him. Virgil needed friends who would back him up no matter what, and Remy had just left him to the wolves. Virgil was feeling very hurt and betrayed, and the urge to hide had only increased after confronting his former friend.

Remy and Virgil had been best friends since they met on the first day of kindergarten, they got through everything together. Remy was there for Virgil when his mom died and his dad remarried, and Virgil had been there for Remy when his dad tried to come back into his life when he clearly wasn’t wanted. They had been there for each other when they came out to each other at age eleven, and they had promised that they would help each other with anything and everything that had to do with being gay. Clearly, that was an empty promise on Remy’s side because he had basically abandoned Virgil with no on to turn to. Virgil couldn’t trust anyone as much as he had trusted Remy.

Virgil was deeply entrenched in his own thoughts when he arrived home from school, so he was startled when his dad and stepmom asked about how school went.

“Nothing of importance happened, why do you ask?” Virgil asked, looking very nervous.

“Just wanted to know how your day went. Would you like one of my world-famous popsicles? I made them fresh this afternoon,” his stepmom replied.

“Are they thick and fruity the way Virgil likes them?” his dad asked, giving his stepmom and knowing look.

Virgil blushed and rapidly shook his head, “Thanks, but no thanks. I think I’m just gonna take a nap, goodnight!” Virgil called out while heading up the stairs.

“I might have one right now. What flavor did you make?” Virgil’s dad asked his wife.

Virgil’s stepmom giggled, “Cherry.” 

Virgil’s dad nodded in approval. Virgil was very glad he wasn’t downstairs to witness the last bit of that exchange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about having Virgil out Remy to his mom the way Tanner does with Brent in the movie, but decided against it. Also, that conversation that Virgil has with his parents is ripped straight from the movie. The wording is slightly altered, but it's gold and I couldn't not include it.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day! Also, all of the players have been brought into the ring...

Unfortunately for Virgil, the sun came back, and his parents decided he couldn’t hide under the covers until it went away again. Virgil’s parents also made him go to school, something Virgil didn’t want to do but couldn’t explain why he didn’t want to go without coming out to his parents. He wasn’t ready to do that, so Virgil begrudgingly went to school.

As soon as Virgil set foot on North Gateway’s campus a hush fell over the crowd. Then the whispers started. Virgil decided it would best if he just kept his head down, went to his classes, and didn’t talk to anybody at all. He wouldn’t even participate in class, he would just keep as low a profile as possible. What Virgil hadn’t planned on was Logan Brooks, among other people, having completely different plans.

The first person to have a different plan than Virgil was the captain of the football team, Hamilton Tibbets. Virgil was walking through the school’s courtyard when Hamilton shoved him up against the wall.

“Well, well, well. Virgil Daniels. Who would’ve thought the school’s resident emo nightmare would also be the school’s first gay?” Hamilton asked, smiling a little too maliciously for Virgil’s liking.

“What can I say, gays come in all shapes and sizes,” Virgil responded, desperately wanting to be put down.

“Are you saying I’m gay, you little twink? Huh? Huh?!” Hamilton exclaimed, clearly ready to punch him. 

“So, what if he was? It’s not like he’d be that far from the truth.”

Suddenly, Logan Brooks appeared from out of no where and he came to defend Virgil of all people. Then Virgil processed what Logan had said and matched Hamilton’s look of disbelief.

Hamilton immediately got defensive, “We agreed we’d never speak of that.”

“Yeah, well, the deal’s off if you lay a hand on him, and then the whole school will know small details. Very small details,” Logan responded, giving Hamilton a knowing smirk.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Hamilton stated.

“Ye of little faith. Of course I would, and the whole school wouldn’t question how I knew. Your sex life would vanish, and my reputation would remain pristine,” Logan explained, his smirk turning into a full-blown evil grin. It was a scary look and Virgil decided he didn’t want it to be directed at him ever.

Hamilton finally put Virgil down and shoved him away. “I hate you both,” he said before walking away.

Logan nodded approvingly before walking closer to Virgil. “Everything all good?” Virgil could only nod in response, openly staring at Logan in complete and total confusion.

“Just in case you live under a rock or something, I’m Logan Brooks,” Logan said.

“Yup. Knew that,” Virgil responded nervously, cringing when he gave Logan a little salute.

“I’m sure you know this, but you’re Virgil Daniels, the school’s first out and proud gay,” Logan stated.

“I’m out but not necessarily proud,” Virgil explained. He began to wonder if this was his real life. He honestly wasn’t sure anymore.

“Well let’s fix that. Let’s begin by going for coffee after school and talking shit about people,” Logan requested, smiling sweetly at Virgil.

Virgil just stared at him, but then suddenly Roman Winters was there claiming that he also enjoyed coffee and would be coming with them. And then Pat was there talking about how he liked decaffeinated coffee. They were all looking at him expectantly and Virgil realized he had to find his words again.

“Why don’t we all go together?” Virgil asked, hoping to appease the three hottest guys at school.

Logan deflated a little before responding. “Fine, lets. But first, this boring thing we call school.”

Logan then linked his arm with Virgil’s, Roman taking his other arm, and Pat was left trailing behind them, his plans to win over Virgil already partially in shambles.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“So, Virgil, tell us about yourself. What’s your epic backstory?” Roman asked. Roman had a tendency towards using much more flowery language. Sometimes it was low key and easy to understand, but sometimes he spoke in sonnets and Virgil had a hard time keeping up. It took a lot of getting used to.

“I mean, I’m nothing special. Just the school’s resident emo freak,” Virgil responded, trying to refrain from being too personal. The three people he sat with right now had all the social power at North Gateway, Virgil didn’t want to reveal anything that would hurt him. 

“Well, yeah, but how did you get there? What pushed you into being all dark and edgy?” Pat asked, genuinely curious. 

“Darkness just fits me and what I’ve been through in my life, I guess,” Virgil replied, clearly becoming uncomfortable with the questions. 

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be lighter, though? Let some sunshine into your life!” Pat suggested, big smile on his face.

“Just because you’re a naïve ball of sunshine doesn’t mean that everyone else needs to follow your example,” Logan stated, not appreciating the way Pat was looking at Virgil.

Virgil shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “I mean, there are some colors I like and some nice, softer things but incorporating them into my style would take away my edginess. I like my edginess,” Virgil explained.

“Well, you’re out now! You gotta express yourself and show the other gays hiding at North Gateway that it’s okay to be an individual,” Roman said, completely forgetting to mention that he was one of those closeted gays.

“You mean I have to look more traditionally gay?” Virgil asked, trying to see where Roman was going with this.

“Of course that’s what he means. You know what we could do? Full blown wardrobe makeover! What do you say? You and me come back here this weekend, give you a glow up?” Logan less asked and more stated.

“Oh, I know all of the stylists at Heroine Salon. We could get you a new hairstyle too!” Roman suggested, suddenly looking very excited.

“I have a gift card at Banana Republic that’s half full,” Pat chimed in. 

Logan looked at them all in barely concealed disappointment. “Great, we’ll all go.”

Virgil knew that everyone at the table was gay, but he didn’t realize how right Remy was when he said that the first out kid would be fought over by these three guys. Virgil figured they probably didn’t want to date each other, but he was still surprised all of them were trying to one up each other for the emo disaster. He then realized they were all as desperate as he and Remy were to find other people like them and connect with them in a romantic sense. Virgil decided to take some comfort in that and go through with the makeover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hamilton and some of the dialogue is ripped straight from the movie, just in case you wanted to know. Also, thank you for all of the likes and comments! I honestly wasn't expecting this much positive attention for this story, so I've deeply appreciated knowing that there are some people out there who legitimately enjoy this. Thank you for reading!!


	6. Chapter Six

Virgil was not even remotely ready for what Saturday brought him. A whole bunch of things happened that he wasn’t expecting and the whole experience felt like a whirlwind. 

The first thing that happened was Virgil apparently didn’t check his text messages enough, a piece of information that baffled him because Virgil was on his phone almost constantly. Needless to say, while Virgil was walking to the mall, the meet up location had changed five times and Virgil got hopelessly lost trying to find Logan, Roman, and Pat.

Luckily, the boys found him, and Virgil was whisked away to every shop that was deemed acceptable by his escorts. All of them had Virgil try on clothes that reflected their aesthetics, but nothing that even remotely matched his. There was not a hint of black in sight, and that made Virgil more uncomfortable than he was willing to admit.

After going through three shops with Virgil refusing to make any purchases, Logan had an idea. He dashed off into the store while the other three stared at the retreating figure in confusion. Logan came back moments later with a shirt that looked very similar to the one he had on, but in a deep purple that he would never consider wearing.

“I was thinking you’d be more open to trying different styles if we stayed within your normal color scheme,” Logan stated, handing the shirt to Virgil. Virgil blushed and thanked Logan quietly before turning around to go try on the shirt.

Virgil found that Logan’s hypothesis was correct. He was much more open to Logan’s stylistic choices when put in colors that he liked. Virgil walked out of the dressing room to show them his new outfit. They were all just staring at him, no words were leaving any of their mouths.

Virgil blushed intensely, “Do I really look so bad I stunned you into silence?”

“No, no, no,” Roman said. “It’s just, you look, wow.”

Pat nodded vigorously in agreement with Roman. Logan just continued staring. 

Roman then snapped his fingers and twirled on the spot. “New idea. Let’s get you into something angstier. I know just the place.”

Virgil shrugged in agreement and went to go change so they could leave the store. Roman then led the group to a whole new group of stores that appealed to Virgil’s tastes a bit more. Roman kept coming up with clothing choice after clothing choice that got Virgil excited about trying on clothing for the first time in his life. Virgil had always felt overwhelmed by the attention that clothes shopping brought, but for some reason he was drinking up the attention and praise given to him by these three boys.

That being said, Virgil became increasingly more worn out as the day progressed. Sure, the boys were being nice to him, there was a hint of fakeness there that Virgil couldn’t place the source of. He found himself being very careful around them, and it was exhausting to keep them all placated. Virgil thought about how he never had to work this hard with Remy and how everything was always easier with him. He also thought about how much Remy would enjoy this whole makeover montage he was experiencing. There were many points throughout the day where Virgil almost texted Remy, but he just couldn’t make himself do it. What had happened was basically unforgivable, but that didn’t stop Virgil from missing his best friend.

Virgil ended up accepting a ride home from Pat when they all decided that Virgil was sufficiently made over. They got in the car and sat in silence for a few minutes.

Pat cleared his throat. “Did you have fun today?”

Virgil had to think about that for a moment. Did he have fun? Virgil decided to respond that he did, and Pat sighed in relief.

“That’s good. I know that all three of us can be a bit much sometimes, especially when we’re all together. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t overwhelmed and stuff.”

“I will say I’m very tired and I had moments where I almost wasn’t okay, but nothing terrible happened,” Virgil responded, trying to gage whether or not this was the real Pat Osgood.

The conversation lapsed into silence for a few minutes until they reached Virgil’s house. Pat stopped the car and turned to face Virgil.

“Hey, if you’re up for it maybe you could come over to my house for dinner on Thursday? I would like to spend some time with you without Ro and Lo, get to know you better,” Pat requested, flashing Virgil a dazzling smile.

Virgil nodded, knowing if he wanted to keep the protection that came with hanging out with Roman, Logan, and Pat, he had to accept any offers to spend time with them that he was given. “Yeah, sure. Just let me know what time you want me over,” Virgil replied.

Pat’s smile somehow managed to get even bigger. “Great! I’ll see you on Monday then.”

“See ya then,” Virgil said before shutting the door to the car and walking into the house, loaded down with way more shopping than he felt a human should ever have after one day out and about.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the character's initials appear with a colon after them, then that means that it's a text message. Enjoy the chapter!

Virgil was staring at his phone on Monday morning trying to decide if he should call Remy or not. He was extremely nervous about going to school with a new outfit that did not incorporate his hoodie, and he was wondering if Remy might be able to help him through it. Virgil was just about to start typing out a message when he received a notification. It was a message from Logan.

LB: Hey V!!! Hope ur ready for ur glamourous reintroduction!!! Meet me out by the courtyard kay?

VD: Yeah sure. See ya then!

Virgil sighed and went to collect his things. He figured the sooner he got there the sooner he could get all of this over with. Virgil spent the entire walk to school trying to calm his frayed nerves. He had the protection of the three most popular boys in the school, no one would say anything that he had to hear, no one would touch him. For the first time since he was outed, Virgil didn’t feel as though he had anything major to worry about. He just had to keep putting on a brave face and keep the boys entertained. All would be fine if he could do just that.

When Virgil arrived at school, he spotted Logan and Roman immediately and headed straight towards them. Roman noticed him first and squealed in excitement.

“You wore the new stuff! And you look so good!” Roman commented.

Virgil blushed. “Thanks,” was his simple reply.

“Come on, V. We’ve gotta show you off,” Logan said, linking arms with Virgil and beginning to walk. Roman followed them and Pat joined the group when they caught up with him in the school’s lobby. 

Logan’s definition of showing Virgil off meant that he was parading the anxious boy around the school. People mostly just stared at the group, not quite believing that one person would have the power to unite three people that normally did not get along at all. As they walked through the halls, Virgil caught eyes with Remy, and Virgil wasn’t sure what to do. Remy stared at him, clearly upset and trying to communicate with Virgil how sorry he was. Virgil just looked at him and shook his head before turning the other way. Remy sighed at his friend’s reaction, about ready to cry. He knew that he did this, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. 

Virgil and Remy tried to go about their days as they usually would, both trying not to notice the absence of the other and failing miserably. The class that was the worst for Remy was chemistry because Logan happened to be in that class, and he sat right next to Virgil.

Virgil looked up, startled that someone had sat next to him. Logan flashed him a smile while unpacking his things for class.

“I couldn’t let my new friend sit all by himself when I could do something about it,” Logan stated as if it were obvious. Virgil supposed it made sense, although he couldn’t tell if the friendship was real to Logan or not. Virgil desperately didn’t want to be used, and he just couldn’t tell if Logan, Pat, and Roman were being serious when their niceness seemed forced at times. Virgil decided to nod in response and Logan took that as a cue to keep talking.

“Besides, we have something we need to talk about. I didn’t realize you were already trying to date, V,” Logan said, some of the friendly light dulling in his eyes.

Virgil’s eyes widened. “W-what? No, I haven’t accepted any offers like that. What made you think that?” Virgil asked, clearly confused.

Logan smirked at the anxious boy. “Oh? Then what do you call having dinner plans with Pat on Thursday?” Logan responded.

“Oh, that? Pat asked if I wanted to come over and I had no reason to say no, so yeah. It’s not a date though, just two friends hanging out and stuff,” Virgil replied with his perception of what was happening. He could tell Logan wasn’t convinced, but he decided to not let it bother him.

“Well if that’s how we’re gonna play then I get you to myself on Wednesday. I’m so over having to share you,” Logan said, fluttering his eyelashes at Virgil.

Virgil nodded in response, a bit baffled by Logan’s actions. “Sure, we can do that,” Virgil responded, again finding no reason to say no.

Logan gave Virgil a look that indicated he was really pleased, and they began working on the lab assignment that their teacher gave the class to do. About hallway through class Virgil felt a tap on his shoulder. Virgil turned and saw that it was Declan who was trying to get his attention. 

“Hey, remember me? Declan?” Declan asked, clearly wanting something from Virgil.

“You really think I’ll ever be able to forget you? What you did will be etched into my brain for the rest of my life,” Virgil replied, not at all interested in what the guy who outed him had to say.

“Well, I just thought you should know that there’s a GSA meeting after school today and you’re more than welcome to come in. Join up, become a role model for all the people languishing in the closet. You could really make a difference, Virgil,” Declan explained, hope shining through his features.

“And why would he want to do that? You forced him out of the closet, why should he support you?” Logan retorted, immediately coming to Virgil’s defense.

Virgil had to admit that Logan had a good point, why would he do that when he had so many other things to worry about? He voiced this fact to Declan, who huffed and dropped the topic for the moment. Logan flashed Virgil another smile, and Virgil swore that if Logan kept doing that that he was not going to survive the rest of his senior year.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Virgil supposed that he should have expected Roman to corner him after he found out about the plans he had with Pat and Logan, but Virgil didn’t think like that. When Roman saw Virgil at lunch and began pulling him away from the group, it took Virgil a minute to think of why he would be receiving such treatment from the school’s prince of drama.

“What is this I hear of spending time with Logan and Pat and not me?” Roman asked, clearly upset about not having similar plans.

“Oh, well, they asked, and I said yes. I didn’t mean to exclude you or anything,” Virgil responded, wanting to placate the guy.

Roman’s face broke into a grin. “Well if that’s the case then I’ll just have to claim you on Friday! I’m hoping to do a play that involves some elaborate set work, and don’t think I haven’t seen your gorgeous mural that’s over in the art wing,” Roman stated.

“Oh, well, thanks, I guess. I can help with set design and stuff,” Virgil replied, not entirely sure what he was getting into.

Roman started jumping up and down on the spot and clapping. “That’s fantastic! And then I can take you to Cam Woods’s party that’s happening that night! All of us are going to be there, which of course means you have to make an appearance as well,” Roman explained, believing his logic to be airtight.

Virgil also knew he couldn’t say no, so he just gave an affirmative response. 

“Great! Now let’s go eat, I’m quite starved,” Roman said before bringing Virgil back to the table the four of them had claimed for the day.

Virgil had no idea what he had gotten himself into, he just hoped he wouldn’t come to regret accepting the attention and protection of the popular crowd.


	8. Chapter Eight

“So,” Roman said, putting down his sandwich. “Prom is coming up.”

Virgil nodded slowly, not quite sure where he was going with this.

“Since you’re out now, are you gonna bring anybody? Any dashing princes you’ve had your eye on?” Roman asked, unabashed curiosity in his eyes.

Virgil shrugged. “I mean, I hadn’t thought about doing anything like that. I wasn’t really planning on going to be honest,” Virgil replied.

“Well your friends with us now so that simply isn’t an option,” Roman stated, Patton nodded in agreement.

“He’s not wrong. You’re expected to be there. Who you’re going to take has been all the rage since you came out. In fact, there’s been talk of making the prom court LGBTQ inclusive,” Logan said, fluttering his eyelashes at Virgil for reasons that were beyond him.

“Would that mean a gay couple could be this year’s prom king and queen?” Virgil asked, making sure he understood correctly.

“The prom committee is willing to make an exception for you and whoever you choose to bring,” Logan responded, dragging his finger along the table in a circular motion and looking at Virgil through his eyelashes. Logan’s behavior confused Virgil to no end, he had no idea what Logan’s deal was. Maybe he’d find out soon.

“Would a lesbian couple be able to win? A nonbinary couple? Or would this invitation be extended exclusively to me?” Virgil rattled off. 

“I’m not sure, you can ask them,” Logan said, taken aback by Virgil’s questions.

“Well if they want to be inclusive then everyone should be included. If that isn’t going to happen then I’m boycotting based on principle,” Virgil proclaimed.

“I’d boycott with you,” Pat said quickly. He’d gone mysteriously quiet during the conversation that vaguely connected to Virgil’s love life. He was usually such a chatter box, so this was another behavior that confused Virgil.

“As would I,” Roman stated. Logan also affirmed he would be a part of this plan. Virgil just stared at them all in disbelief.

“You guys are the three most popular guys in school, if not the most popular people. Why the hell would you boycott with me?” Virgil asked.

“If your right about the people running prom only promising to be LGBTQ inclusive if you’re involved, then it’s a corrupt system. We wouldn’t want to support a corrupt system,” Logan explained. Roman and Pat nodded in agreement.

“You know, you three continue to surprise me. That’s all I’m going to say about it,” Virgil said, letting the subject drop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a short filler chapter. I needed to introduce prom before continuing on to the next section, which will be up this weekend and set some stuff in motion ;)


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for a series of one-on-one interactions between Virgil and the boys. Enjoy!!

Logan led Virgil up to his bedroom. Virgil let his eyes wander as they moved through the house. Logan’s parents were loaded, everyone knew this, but it was one thing to know that and another thing to see it. There were so many expensive things, and they were everywhere. No wonder Logan came off as so materialistic to people who didn’t know him that well.

When they arrived in Logan’s room, Logan flopped down on his bed. Virgil carefully set his stuff down by the door.

“Welcome to my not-so-humble abode,” Logan stated, gesturing to the room around him.

Logan sat up and studied Virgil for a second. His gaze was intense, and it was starting to make Virgil uncomfortable.

“Do you ever do your makeup differently?” Logan asked.

“What? I mean, sometimes, but only when I’m bored and don’t have to leave the house,” Virgil replied, clearly confused.

“You wanna experiment on someone else? I’m a willing test subject,” Logan requested, giving Virgil puppy dog eyes.

“Uh, sure, I guess,” Virgil said. Logan clapped happily and went to get out the makeup he had.

Logan and Virgil sat down across from each other, Virgil studying what he had to work with and Logan practically bouncing with anticipation.

“You own much brighter palettes than I do,” Virgil stated, an idea forming in his head.

“Like that’s surprising,” Logan responded, wanting to know what Virgil was thinking.

Virgil went for the foundation and started putting it on to Logan’s face. Logan couldn’t help but notice things about Virgil as he went through the various steps that he needed to complete for the look he was going for. Logan had been noticing Virgil for a long time, longer than he would like to admit. At first it was because of the out there nature of his style, but as he continued noticing Virgil, he became familiar with his mannerisms, the way he interacted with the people he cared about, the moments he broke his façade when he thought no one was looking. Logan had thought that Virgil was adorable for years, but he never acted on it because he didn’t know how he would be received by both Virgil and the student body. Since Virgil had been outed, Logan took the opportunity to approach him and found that Virgil was just as great a human as he thought he’d be. What Logan felt was a full-blown crush at this point, but he didn’t want to try and make a move and scare Virgil away. 

As Logan watched Virgil work, he thought about how Virgil had been behaving this past week and who he was choosing to spend his time with. When he thought about it, he was surprised to realize that Virgil’s best friend since they were all in elementary school, Remy Vancamp, had been mysteriously absent from the picture. It was odd because it was a known fact that those two were attached at the hip.

“What happened to your friend, Remy Vancamp? You guys have been inseparable since elementary school,” Logan asked, genuinely curious. 

Virgil had stilled from were he was blending out the eyeshadow he had put on Logan. 

“We had a bit of a falling out. He hasn’t been the most supportive of the whole coming out thing,” Virgil said, sounding a bit sad.

“Is he homophobic? If so that surprises me because I thought out of the two of you, he would be the one to come out first,” Logan replied.

Virgil looked at him, looking indecisive for a moment. He sighed. “Yeah. That was the original plan actually. Don’t tell anyone that though,” Virgil said, blending out the other eye.

“Who would I tell?” Logan joked, smirking at Virgil. Virgil gave him a disapproving look and Logan laughed. “I was kidding. I know when to spread secrets and when to keep my mouth shut.”

“I didn’t know you had that option,” Virgil stated, looking through Logan’s makeup stash.

“Two questions. One, do you want lashes? I like to do them sometimes when I’m playing around with makeup.” Logan nodded. “Okay, I’ll get these out then. Two, can I ask you a personal question?” 

Logan nodded again, taking the lash Virgil handed him so it could dry a bit. 

“I read somewhere once that sometimes people have a lot of stuff when they’re trying to compensate for something. Is that something with you?” Virgil asked, going right past all of Logan’s defenses and straight (ha) for his heart.

Logan sighed, not sure if he should give a truthful answer or not. He decided he should.

“Stuff can’t hurt you the way people can. I’d rather fill my life with labels than people who could hurt me. There’s an understanding there that you can’t get from people. All of my stuff just makes me feel more secure than most people I know,” Logan replied, kind of scared of the response he’d get.

“You said most people. Who doesn’t make you uncomfortable?” Virgil responded.

“You, actually,” Logan stated, surprising them both. “I can tell you don’t judge people the way everyone else does. You honestly completely proved that to me by agreeing to do an impromptu makeover. No one else would’ve done that for me without any questions,” Logan explained, not sure what to do with Virgil’s facial expression.

Virgil just stared at him in disbelief. He was so used to putting people off with his edgy persona that he didn’t completely believe that he of all people was the one person that put the most popular guy at school at ease. It was a bizarre concept to him. 

“Not gonna lie, that’s a weird thing for me to think about,” Virgil finally said.

“You got that right. What I will say is I don’t mind it if you don’t mind it,” Logan replied, hope shining in his eyes.

“I don’t think I mind it too much,” Virgil responded, giving Logan a small smile.

“You’re all done by the way,” Virgil said, handing Logan a makeup mirror.

Virgil had used various shades of blue to create a smoky look that extended beyond where you would normally put eyeshadow. He paired that with think eyeliner and a peachy brown lipstick. He also managed to make Logan’s skin look a shade darker without it looking weird.

“I’m obsessed,” Logan stated, looking at his face in as many angles as possible.

“I noticed you wear a lot of blue, so I thought I’d use that as a base and went from there,” Virgil explained, proud of what he managed to achieve. 

Logan smiled at Virgil. “Thank you so much. I’m going to have to have you teach me how to recreate it sometime,” Logan stated.

Virgil blushed. “Yeah, sure, whatever,” was Virgil’s response.

Logan concluded that Virgil was absolutely adorable.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Since it was a Wednesday and Logan didn’t want Virgil to leave yet, the boys were sitting on the floor of Logan’s bedroom working on homework. Virgil was working on one of the homework sheets they’d been given for chemistry and he was struggling. After getting stuck on the fifth problem in a row, Virgil groaned in frustration and flopped backwards on to the floor.

Logan looked up from the English homework he was working on. “What’s up?” he asked.

“I can’t do this fucking chemistry conversion stuff. It’s so confusing, why do we have to know this stuff anyway?” Virgil explained, exasperation coloring his words.

“I could help you if you like. I’m actually really good with science and math and stuff,” Logan offered.

“You understand this stuff? I don’t believe it,” Virgil challenged.

“I’m actually a huge science nerd. My two favorite things are playing around with chemical reactions and astronomy. I want to go to school for this stuff, be an astronomer and make cool discoveries about space,” Logan explained.

“You know what, Brooks? You keep surprising me,” Virgil responded, scooting closer so that Logan could see what he was working on.

“If I couldn’t keep surprising you then you’d get tired of me and leave,” Logan said with a smile, then immediately launched into an explanation of what Virgil was supposed to be doing. From that point forward, Virgil went to Logan every time he needed help with something math or science related. He was so much better at explaining this stuff than Virgil’s teachers, and Virgil appreciated that about Logan.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day Virgil found himself in Pat Osgood’s house helping him make dinner. This mostly involved Virgil sitting on the counter as Pat moved around the kitchen, but neither of them seemed to mind the arrangement. Pat mixed all the components he had made into a casserole dish and put them in the oven, setting a timer. He then turned to face Virgil.

“So, what do you think?” Pat asked, leaning against the counter.

“About what?” Virgil replied.

“About everything that has happened over the past week. Being out, hanging out with us, being here right now,” Pat explained.

“Um… I don’t know. It’s all been really overwhelming for sure. One of the nice things about hanging around you guys is that I’ve felt pretty protected from the rest of the school. I would’ve been able to get through it on my own, but it would’ve been hard because I would’ve been on my own,” Virgil stated, studying his hands. 

Pat gave him a quizzical look, looking like he was about to ask a question when Virgil raised his gaze. “As for being here, there’s something calming about seeing you without Roman and Logan. Don’t get me wrong, I like both of them but all three of you at the same time is an intense experience,” Virgil explained, giving Pat a small smile.

Pat smiled back. “Yeah, I totally get that. We’ve all been competing with each other since middle school and it’s honestly only gotten worse as we’ve gotten older. I don’t really remember why we started most days, it’s so natural to be at each other’s throats,” Pat said, starting to fiddle with the dishes he’d been using to cook.

As Pat started washing, Virgil moved to stand next to him to start drying. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Pat spoke up again.

“We’re just so similar in a lot of ways and we’ve known each other since forever because of the social circles our parents are involved in. We’re also just different enough to not have been friends since forever, and that’s where it came from, I think. We’re compatible, but we don’t want to be,” Pat explained, turning off the water when he was done washing.

Virgil nodded. The fake niceness he had felt on their mall trip made more sense to him now. If they’d always been against each other but wanted to be nice to someone else, they had to play nice with each other in a way that was uncomfortable for all of them. This made Virgil glad that he had agreed to spend time with each of them individually. He was learning whether or not he actually liked these three guys as people rather than as status symbols at school.

The timer went off and Pat pulled the casserole out of the oven to cool. He went to get stuff out to set the table, handing some of the items to Virgil before leading him to the dining room. By the time the two had finished setting the table, the casserole was cool enough to eat, so Pat created two servings and the boys settled down to eat.

“Can I ask you a weird question?” Pat asked, setting down his fork.

“I think so. I might not answer depending on what it is,” Virgil replied, continuing to eat. Pat was surprisingly good at cooking and Virgil was enjoying the casserole immensely.

“How’d you know you were gay? Your outing was honestly a big surprise to me because you never seemed that way to me. Not that it’s right to assume things, but sometimes you can just tell, you know?” Pat asked, rambling a little bit. Virgil could feel the nervousness pouring off of him, so he felt as though he knew why Pat was asking. Virgil figured he should help a buddy out.

“Trust me, I know I don’t read that way, especially if you compare me to my friend Remy, which a lot of people do. The first time I remember learning about gay people was when I met my great uncle, Stan, at a family reunion when I was eight. He had his partner, Leo, with him, and he was engaging in PDA the way the husbands would do with their wives. I asked my dad why Uncle Stan was doing all that and he told me that Uncle Stan was gay, and Leo was his partner. My dad explained how sometimes boys like other boys and girls like other girls. I took that information and continued watching my uncle. It made sense to me in a way I couldn’t understand at the time. What he was doing was more right to me than what the straight couples were doing at the party.

“Even though I didn’t think about it for years, I always remembered that conversation. It stuck out to me for some reason, and that reason became obvious to me in middle school. When most boys started noticing girls, I started noticing boys. Remy and I would talk about it a lot, and we both came to the correct conclusion very quickly. It just made sense,” Virgil explained.

Pat nodded along, some of what Virgil said resonating with him. “Can I tell you something?” Pat asked timidly.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Virgil responded, giving Pat his undivided attention.

“I think I might be gay too. I don’t know, I’ve never talked about it before because I care a lot about what people think and I know some people wouldn’t be happy with it. I guess that’s their problem, but it makes me nervous about coming out and being with someone in real life,” Pat explained, trying to gage Virgil’s reaction.

Virgil smiled softly at the boy sitting across from him. “Thanks for telling me, Pat. I hope that when you do come out, you get to choose when and how you want to do it. Take it from me, it’s not fun having that choice taken from you. If it means anything to you, I’ll support you through it,” Virgil stated.

“That does mean something. Thanks for being cool with it,” Pat said, returning Virgil’s smile.

“It would be weird if I wasn’t, considering myself. You think you’re gonna be official before we graduate?” Virgil asked, finishing off the last of his casserole.

“I don’t know yet. Depends on what happens,” Pat replied, also finishing his food.

They cleaned up and packed away the leftover food before settling down in the living room, casually chatting about whatever when Pat dropped a bombshell.

“Have you ever kissed a boy or anything like that?” Pat asked out of the blue.

“What? Um… no, I haven’t actually,” Virgil responded, giving Pat a wary look.

Pat scooted closer to Virgil. “Would you like to try it out?” Pat asked, starting to close the distance.

Pat was now about an inch from Virgil’s face, and Virgil just froze. 

“I-uh,” was all Virgil was able to get out before Pat crushed his lips onto Virgil’s. 

Virgil figure he should probably be kissing back, but he also didn’t want to kiss back, so he pushed Pat off him and stood up quickly.

“I just remembered I have to go help my dad with something so I gotta go, bye!” Virgil exclaimed before dashing out of the house.

Pat pouted unhappily at where Virgil had just been. He knew he hadn’t really had a shot, but he wanted to try. He figured he should just let Logan win this one and try to get Virgil back in his life as a friend. He did like the guy as a person.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Roman and Virgil were sitting on the stage with Roman’s notes spread out around them. Roman had some very extravagant visions for what he wanted the sets to look like, and Virgil had to reign him in a bit in order to get a rough sketch out.

After creating a rough draft for the third set piece, Roman said that was enough for the day and put his notes away.

“You’re really good at set design. I’ve never had anyone that could come close to approximating my visions, so I’m really happy with your rough drafts so far,” Roman said, flashing a smile at Virgil.

“Thanks,” Virgil responded shyly. “I’ve never done anything so big before. The only serious stuff I do is in art class.”

“And it’s so good! Seriously, Virgil, you should do more things with your talents. I wish I’d had you for the past four years and not just for my last show,” Roman stated, his tone conveying that he was being genuine.

“I guess I’ve just never applied myself to anything seriously. I gotta do that soon though, I plan on going to college next year,” Virgil explained, laying down on the stage and stretching out his back.

“Do you know where you’re going yet?” Roman asked, joining Virgil on the floor.

“I’ve been accepted to a few schools, but I haven’t made any decisions yet. What about you?” Virgil responded.

“New York is the basic plan right now. I’ve been accepted to a couple schools, waiting to hear back from some others. Nothing’s set in stone for me either,” Roman replied, turning to look at Virgil.

The two boys laid in silence for a while. It wasn’t an awkward silence, they were just absorbing each other’s company. Roman finally found the words to ask Virgil the question he wanted to ask.

“I know I brought it up earlier, but do you have any more thoughts about prom? I’m just curious,” Roman asked. 

Virgil looked at him before shaking his head and sitting up. “I honestly don’t know. It’s not really my scene, and the whole LGBTQ inclusive thing seems kinda stupid if they’re only doing it for me. There are other people who identify that way that enjoy the spotlight way more than I do,” Virgil explained.

Roman nodded his head in response. He figured there was a reason Virgil was known for being foreboding, and part of that must have come from not wanting to draw a lot of attention to himself. 

“You seem to care a lot about this. Can I ask why?” Virgil asked.

“Let me show you something,” Roman said, leading Virgil to one of the trophy cases outside of the theater. “These are all of the prom couples since 1983. You see any similarities?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean. You want there to be more representation?” Virgil asked. 

Roman nodded. “It would be nice if there wasn’t another straight white couple prom court. It’s one of the reasons I’m hoping to win prom king. Honestly, it’s why I would like to see you win prom king. If not me, then I’d like it to be you,” Roman explained, giving Virgil a small smile.

“It is 2013 after all,” Virgil responded, returning Roman’s smile.

“This is why we need to get you set up with someone! Anyone of interest? How about that friend of yours, Remy is it?” Roman asked. Apparently, he really liked match making, and his excitement for it was shining through right now.

“Remy and I aren’t like that. It’s something that wouldn’t work,” Virgil stated, trying to be discrete and not give anymore openings for that particular discussion. Roman seemed to catch what Virgil was throwing and decided to move on.

“Well I’m sure Pat or Logan would be happy to go with you if you’re into that,” Roman offered, looking a little sad as he did so.

Virgil’s eyes widened at the mention of Pat. “Not Pat. Maybe Logan, but not Pat,” Virgil explained, shaking his head rapidly to clear the thought.

Roman just stared at him for a moment before softening his gaze. “Well, if you decide you want to go with someone as just friends or maybe something more, I’d be more than happy to take you to the dance,” Roman replied, giving Virgil a shy and hopeful smile.

“I’ll think about it. It would probably be as friends though, I’m not sure I want anything close to a real relationship right now,” Virgil said, hoping he hadn’t been too harsh. Roman had been extremely nice to him after all, and Virgil found that he liked Roman as an actual person.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I can convince you at the party tonight!” Roman stated, excitement tinging his voice.

“Crap, I completely forgot about that!” Virgil responded, looking slightly panicked.

“Relax, it’s gonna be v lowkey,” Roman said. He then decided that it was time for the two of them to go and meet up with Logan and Pat so they could get ready for the party. Virgil just went with it, knowing by now it was better to go with the flow than to resist it in any way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say 2013 in here because that's the year the movie came out and the movie appears to take place the year it was made, hence the declaration of "it's 2013." Also Roman's last line is ripped straight from the movie.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a rollercoaster, so yeah. Enjoy!!

If it wasn’t obvious, Virgil didn’t normally spend his Friday nights at parties, but he was here now, and he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. Virgil’s first instinct was to hide in the corner or in a quieter room, but Logan was already dragging him to the kitchen to see what there was to drink. Logan spent a brief moment rummaging through the fridge before pulling out two drinks, handing one to Virgil. 

“Drink up, bitch,” was all Logan had to say for himself before chugging about half of his own.

Virgil looked at Logan, then at the drink in his hand, then back at Logan. Deciding that if all else failed he could call his dad and have him pick him up, Virgil opened the drink and took a cautious sip.

Virgil grimaced. “This tastes like ass, why would anyone want to drink this?” 

Logan smirked at him. “The buzz is totally worth it. Let’s go make our rounds, Virgil dearest!” Logan exclaimed, taking Virgil’s hand and proceeding to drag him through the house.

Virgil doesn’t know where the next few hours went, but the next time he was really aware of what was going on, he was seated on a couch with some of the school’s known stoners. They were asking him questions about gay sex that Virgil couldn’t really answer. He was explaining how there was no “girl” in a gay relationship because the whole point was that it was two guys when Logan came to save him, claiming he owed Logan a dance. Virgil happily complied and found himself bouncing along to the music with Logan.

“So, what do you think?” Logan asked, trying to get Virgil to twirl.

“It’s very loud and there’s too many people and they’re all sweaty,” Virgil replied, pouting a little bit.

Logan laughed at him. “It’s important that you’re here though. Gotta show off your new status and stuff.”

“People are still sweaty though. It’s unsanitary.” was all Virgil had to say for himself.

Logan shook his head fondly. Logan and Virgil just swayed to the music for a few minutes before either one of them said anything.

“It’s also good practice for prom. You have to be there, might as well get used to it,” Logan stated, snapping Virgil from his alcohol induced haze.

“You mean people are going to be just as sweaty and drunk? That’s so gross. I definitely don’t wanna go now,” Virgil decided, moving closer to Logan to avoid touching anyone he didn’t want to.

Logan’s mind stuttered for a moment before he could come up with a reply. Virgil had never been so close to him before, and he wasn’t sure how to handle it. 

“W-well certainly you’ve heard of pregaming. Everybody does it. Dances are also too crowded not to have sweaty people.”

“I’ve decided that dances are stupid,” Virgil stated, crossing his arms and giving Logan a defiant look.

Logan giggled at him. “You’re so cute,” Logan said, flashing Virgil a smile until he realized he said that out loud.

Virgil’s eyes widened. “What?”

“What?” Logan threw right back at him.

The two were staring at each other, not sure what to say when Roman suddenly appeared.

“Virgil, there you are! I want you to meet my friend, Christian, from theatre camp. Christian, this is Virgil,” Roman explained, completely oblivious to what had just happened between Logan and Virgil. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Virgil. Roman’s been talking about you all night,” Christian said, extending his hand and bowing a little. 

The only thing Virgil could think about was how Roman’s friend was very pretty, and he said as much. Roman and Logan froze, not expecting Virgil to react that way. Logan became instantly spiteful towards Roman’s friend.

Virgil giggled. “Sorry, I’m really drunk. I don’t usually say things like that,” Virgil explained, his giggles turning into full blown laughter when he realized what he’d done. After Virgil calmed down a bit, he saw Pat across the room, watching them. Virgil began laughing all over again.

“Hey, Pat! You remember the other day?!” Virgil asked, filter completely gone.

Pat approached the group warily. He had been watching the whole interaction and had seen how Logan and Roman reacted to Virgil calling Roman’s friend pretty. He wasn’t sure he wanted to join the conversation, but also didn’t want to deny Virgil.

“Yeah, I remember. Why?” Pat responded with caution.

“That was fucking weird, dude. I’d never done that before. Who knew it’d be so wet?” Virgil replied, laughter continuing to spill from his lips when he thought about it.

“Haha, yeah, who knew?” Pat responded, not liking the looks that Roman and Logan were giving him. 

Virgil’s giggling stopped long enough for him to get control of himself. He clasped his hand on Pat’s shoulder. “Look, even though I don’t like you that way, you’re a chill guy. Let’s be friends sometime,” Virgil stated, giving Pat a smile. 

Before Pat could say anything, Logan was in his space. “What the hell did you do, Osgood?” Logan asked, voice dangerously low.

Pat just stared at him, not trusting himself to have a good response. Luckily, he didn’t have to have one because Christian spoke up.

“Umm, while it’s nice to meet you all and stuff, I’m not sure I signed up to be in the middle of a gay cat fight,” Christian stated. Logan’s anger was then focused on him.

“WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!” Logan exclaimed, losing all semblance of control.

“It’s wicked obvious, buddy. You don’t need to hide,” Christian reassured, but his words fell on deaf ears.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” Logan shouted, going to one of the bedrooms in the back and locking himself in. 

The four boys looked at the room Logan had just entered in shock. Who knew Logan was so touchy about being gay? Roman was certainly shocked, he’d known that Logan was gay since they were ten. He got where Logan was coming from, but it was still surprising to see in real life.

“I think it might be time to go home,” Roman said, Christian nodding in agreement. “You want a ride home, Virgil? I’m completely sober.”

“I’ll just walk. Thanks anyway,” Virgil replied before going over to the room that Logan had holed himself up in.

Virgil knocked on the door. “Logan, buddy? You wanna talk?” Virgil asked, concentrating really hard to hear Logan over the noise of the party.

“No,” Logan responded, hostility present in his tone.

“Okay. I’m gonna go home. I’ll see you on Monday,” Virgil stated, walking away from Logan and out of the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Just when Virgil thought the night couldn’t get anymore eventful, he arrived back at his house to see Remy sitting at the edge of the driveway. 

The two boys just stared at each other for a minute, not quite believing the other was there. 

“Hi?” Virgil asked, not entirely sure what to say.

“I had to leave my house,” was all Remy said in response.

“Why?” Virgil asked, moving to sit down next to his friend.

“Well, I came out to my mom and she’s gone fucking insane. She’s noticed how lonely I’ve been lately, so we were having a queer movie marathon. It was all fine but then Jake and Heath started grunting in a tent and I started drinking heavily,” Remy explained, looking dazed and not sure that what he just described had really happened.

Virgil started laughing. “You were watching ‘Brokeback’ with your mom? That’s hilarious!” Virgil stated, continuing to laugh his ass off.

“You wouldn’t be laughing if it was you,” Remy retorted, smile creeping onto his face.

“Trust me, I know,” Virgil said, calming down a little bit. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here though.”

Remy hummed. “I had this great idea that I would make a big entrance at the party. This was as far as I got,” Remy explained, blushing a little bit.

Virgil nodded, the two going silent for a minute.

“I miss you,” Remy said suddenly. “I regret what I said, but I didn’t know how to apologize.”

Virgil felt like he was going to cry. “I miss you too. Everyone’s been going fucking insane and I have no idea what to do with myself,” Virgil replied, looking up at his friend.

Remy launched himself at Virgil, and Virgil accepted the hug even though he flew backwards onto the ground. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just absorbing each other’s presence. Remy pulled back a bit to smile at his friend and Virgil smiled back. He really had missed his best friend.

Virgil wasn’t sure why what happened next occurred, but he thinks it had something to do with the fact that they were drunk and had been suffering withdrawals from each other. Whatever it was, the next thing Virgil knew he and Remy were kissing, and Virgil didn’t mind it at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christian, one of Remy's lines, one of Logan's lines, and a couple of Virgil's line are ripped from the movie. Thanks for reading!!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh heh

Virgil woke up the next morning to Remy in his bed, both of them wearing much less clothing than they normally do when they have sleepovers. 

“Shit!” Virgil exclaimed, backing away from Remy quickly when he realized he didn’t completely remember how they got there. 

Remy woke up and blinked at Virgil sleepily. All traces of tiredness were gone from his face as soon as he realized why Virgil had woken him up in the way he had. Remy quickly echoed Virgil’s sentiments.

“Do you remember what happened?” Virgil asked tentatively, hoping his friend would know.

“I remember being outside and doing… that. I think we just came inside and passed out. We were too drunk to do anything else, right?” Remy responded, not completely convinced but that was the story they were to stick to.

“Yeah, totally. Too drunk. Nothing happened,” Virgil replied, nodding his head very quickly. 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Virgil gave Remy a panicked look.

“Hide!” Virgil whisper shouted, pointing towards the closet.

Remy rolled his eyes. “Seriously?” he asked. Virgil just made a desperate noise and went to hide other incriminating evidence of whatever it was that he and Remy had done last night.

Even though he clearly didn’t want to, Remy hid in the closet just before Virgil’s stepmom came in. 

“Hey, V! Whatcha up to?” she asked, totally disregarded her stepson’s lack of clothing.

Virgil turned bright red. “Oh, you know, just cleaning up a bit,” he replied, laughing nervously.

“It does smell a bit musty in here. Tell you what, I’ve got a nice, hot breakfast all ready for you. Come down soon, okay?” she said, giving Virgil a smile that he wasn’t sure he liked.

“I’ll be right there,” Virgil replied, trying not to be too fidgety. 

Remy opened the closet door looking very unimpressed. “Real smooth there, Virge.”

“Are you saying you wanted my stepmom to see us like this?” Virgil asked, gesturing to the fact that they were both only wearing shirts and underwear.

“You may have a point, but they have to know eventually.” Remy said, pulling his clothes back on.

“I want that to be on my own terms. I’ve already been forced out of the closet once, not doing it again. And that means you can’t go out through the front door!” Virgil explained, grabbing Remy’s arm to keep him from leaving the room.

“Me being over here isn’t that weird nor is it incriminating evidence!” Remy exclaimed, starting to become very frustrated with his best friend.

“We’ve never had sleepovers without them knowing first!” Virgil replied, giving Remy a pleading look.

Remy sighed. “Fine, but you owe me,” he said before climbing out the window. 

Virgil watched his friend go with sad eyes. He really hoped that whatever happened last night wouldn’t ruin his chances of being friends with Remy again. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Virgil couldn’t stop thinking about what happened between him and Remy. He’d been thinking about it so much that he had completely forgotten about what had happened at the party, so he was very confused as to why whispers were following him through the hallways. 

Virgil was starting to worry that his time with Remy had gotten leaked somehow when Roman approached him.

“Hey, Virgil. Have you seen Logan since the party? He’s gone completely MIA,” Roman asked, uncharacteristically worried for someone who wasn’t his friend.

“Why would he be missing? It was just a party,” Virgil responded, very clearly preoccupied. 

“Don’t you remember? Jeez, you must’ve been more drunk than I thought,” Roman stated, giving Virgil a look of concern.

“I was way more drunk than I should’ve been. What happened?” Virgil asked, shutting his locker.

“My friend, Christian, said Logan was gay where a bunch of people could hear him and Logan freaked out. Locked himself in a room and shit,” Roman responded, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Oh shit. I remember that now. I’ll text him and see if he’ll talk to me. I totally get where he’s coming from,” Virgil said, pulling out his phone.

“Yeah, I’m stupidly worried. I don’t even know why I care, we’re not friends, but the dude doesn’t deserve that,” Roman explained.

Virgil nodded, typing out a message. He and Roman were walking to class when all of the sudden, Declan Williams was in front of them with a confused Pat in tow.

“Hey, Virgil. You wanna join the GSA now? You could get your buddies to join with you,” Declan said, giving Virgil a smile that he wasn’t sure he liked.

“What? No! For the last time, Williams, I’m not going to support the people that forced me to come out! I wasn’t ready at all and you took that choice from me. So, thanks, but no thanks. Come on, Pat, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Virgil said, linking arms with Pat before walking away from a gaping Declan.

Roman stared at Virgil for a minute before rushing to catch up with them.

“You didn’t have to do that Virgil. I was perfectly fine on my own,” Pat said, looking at Virgil with completely new eyes. 

Roman was just as stunned. “Yeah, dude. Where the hell did that come from?”

“I don’t want to deal with him, why should I have to? Why should you or Logan have to?” Virgil explained, leading the trio to the courtyard.

Roman and Pat couldn’t help but agree. There was no reason Virgil should have to deal with people he didn’t want to if he could help it. 

Pat smiled at him. “Thanks for pulling me away. I was so confused and wasn’t sure I could leave.”

“No problem. No hard feelings?” Virgil asked, extending his hand.

“No hard feelings,” Pat agreed, shaking the offered hand.

Roman had asked for the story behind what Virgil had said at the party and the apology that just occurred. Virgil gave Pat permission to tell the story when Virgil’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text from Logan.

LB: Why the fuck did you sleep with Remy Vancamp?


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So even though this is a G.B.F. au, this is the point in the story where we're going to take a huge turn away from the storyline. I wasn't following it very strictly anyway, but this last section of the story is going to not resemble the original storyline of the movie very much. I hope you enjoy it!!

LB: Why the fuck did you sleep with Remy Vancamp?

Virgil just stared at his phone in horror. How did Logan know? He hadn’t talked to anyone that weekend, and he was pretty sure Remy wouldn’t have mentioned what happened to anyone, right? 

Roman and Pat noticed Virgil’s silence and expression and became concerned.

“Everything good, Virge?” Pat asked tentatively.

Virgil blinked up at them. “What? Oh, um, Logan just texted me back. I’m just gonna go get him,” Virgil rushed out, walking quickly to where he thought Logan might be.

Roman and Pat let it go, figuring that they could ask Virgil what was going on later. Virgil was basically running to the bathroom in the art wing. He figured Logan would be there because no one ever went in there and was therefore Logan’s favorite spot to hide when he wasn’t feeling well.

Virgil pushed the door open. “Logan?” he asked, his only response was some muffled sniffles.

Logan emerged from one of the stall doors, eyes red and puffy and his cheeks wet. He glared at Virgil. “Why did you do it? I thought you guys weren’t like that?!”

Virgil gave Logan a wide-eyed stare. “We’ve never been like that. I mean, we used to be the only gay people we knew so we’d talk about that kind of thing a lot and we ‘dated’ for one week in like seventh grade but that’s it. How do you even know?” Virgil explained, giving Logan a quizzical look.

Logan flailed his arms in frustration. “That’s not important!” Logan exclaimed. “What matters is that it happened, and it shouldn’t have!”

“You’re not wrong about how it shouldn’t have happened, but why the hell do you know?! The only people I’ve talked to since then were Roman and Pat just now and I didn’t say anything about it to them!” Virgil said, suspicion rising in him.

Logan looked very conflicted in that moment. “This wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Logan said quietly, curling in on himself.

Virgil approached him carefully, trying not to scare him. “What was? You know you can tell me what’s going on. I won’t judge you, promise,” Virgil soothed, going to touch Logan’s shoulder before Logan wrenched himself away from Virgil. 

Logan looked up at him, tears in his eyes. Virgil had never seen Logan look so vulnerable, he felt the urge to give him a hug or something that would help a little. 

Logan scrubbed at his eyes, turning away from Virgil again. “I don’t know if I can,” Logan said. 

Virgil gave him a pained look when the bell rang. “You gotta go to class,” Logan stated, walking back into the stall and shutting the door.

“You do too, Lo,” Virgil responded, catching the door.

Logan just shook his head, wrenching the door closed before letting out a small sob. Virgil felt a small part of himself break at Logan’s reaction to him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Unbeknownst to Virgil, Logan had heard about him and Remy through Declan who had seen the two kiss on the curb from his bedroom window. Declan lived right across the street from Virgil and just so happened to be awake when he noticed the two boys on the curb. He saw them kiss and then go into the house, his assumptions were confirmed when he saw Remy sneak out of Virgil’s window the next morning.

Declan figured that if he couldn’t get Virgil into the GSA, at least he could get back at Virgil by ruining his reputation by leaking what he saw to the entire school. He made sure that some of the biggest gossipers and Logan knew what happened and let it all unfold before him. Virgil and Remy were both looking miserable, just as planned. 

Roman heard what happened through the grapevine during second period. He immediately went to find Virgil. Virgil was sitting on one of the couches in the science and math wing looking extremely dejected. Roman was instantly worried.

“Hey, V. You don’t look so good,” Roman greeted, sitting down next to the anxious boy. 

Virgil’s head snapped up to look at him. “Oh, uh, yeah. I’ve had a shitty morning so far,” Virgil explained, relaxing when he saw it was just Roman. 

“Yeah. I may or may not have heard about what happened between you and Remy. The whole school probably knows by now,” Roman said, drumming his fingers on the seat.

“Shit,” Virgil hissed, his hand balling up into a fist. “Just Logan knowing was bad enough, but everyone else knows too?”

“I’m afraid so,” Roman said, looking at his friend with sympathy in his eyes. “Is that why you went off looking for him earlier?”

“Yeah. I think he’s been hiding all day,” Virgil said. He threw himself against the back of the sofa, letting out a groan. “It was a drunk mistake. It literally will never happen again. Why did people have to know?” 

Roman nodded in agreement, thinking for a moment. “If you want, I can figure out where the rumor came from so something can be done about it. This is like, borderline sexual harassment stuff,” Roman offered.

“I don’t want to do anything at the moment, but I probably will take you up on that,” Virgil said, looking at Roman with gratitude in his eyes.

Roman smiled back at him. “Whenever you’re ready. Can I ask a question?”

“As long as I don’t have to answer it if I don’t want to,” Virgil responded.

“Does this mean you and Remy are talking again? It’s just so weird to not see you guys around each other constantly, even though I’m glad this whole coming out thing gave us the opportunity to be friends,” Roman asked, trying to gauge Virgil’s reaction.

Virgil sighed, letting out a bitter laugh. “I wish. I miss him so much, but things are even more awkward now than they were and now Logan is super mad at me and I just don’t know what to do,” Virgil explained.

“Logan’s mad at you? Wow. I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am,” Roman responded, looking a bit taken aback.

“Yup. I hate myself for making him that upset, but I didn’t do it on purpose,” Virgil stated, running his hands through his hair. “I just wish things weren’t so complicated.

Roman nodded his head sympathetically and rubbed circles into Virgil’s back. He decided that he was going to try and make Virgil’s life a little less complicated, and he thinks he knows just how to do it.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Roman finally got Pat alone a week later, eager to tell him his plan for Virgil. He had more time to think about the plan and it was basically foolproof at this point. All Roman needed was the help of Pat and one other person.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about Virgil and Remy at this point,” Roman said, looking to Pat to gauge his reaction.

“Who hasn’t? I feel bad for both of them tbh,” Pat responded. “Why?”

“I think I have a plan for helping Virgil and by extension, Remy. I need to find out who leaked this and make them pay for it, you in?” Roman asked, looking hopeful.

“Does Virgil know about this?” Pat responded, not wanting to push his luck with the fragile truce/friendship he had established with Virgil.

“We talked about it briefly if that’s what you mean,” Roman said, trying to evade Pat’s look of disapproval. 

“Okay,” Pat agreed, somewhat skeptical. “I feel like there’s a second part to this that you aren’t telling me.”

“I may or may not want to get involved with Virgil’s love life without him knowing,” Roman said, looking a bit sheepish.

“You can’t just do that, Roman!” Pat exclaimed, batting at his shoulder. “I already tried that and look where that got me.”

“I know, I know, but have you heard about Logan’s response to all of this?” Roman asked.

“The only thing I’ve noticed is that he’s refusing to talk to anyone. Is he mad at Virgil?” Pat replied, looking slightly concerned.

“Yeah, he’s really upset and that means he’s upsetting Virgil. Virgil has too much going on for him to be upset right now,” Roman explained.

Pat nodded. “So, you’re doing this to help Virgil, right? Because we aren’t friends with each other or with Logan,” Pat stated even though he looked a bit unsure about it.

Roman looked at him for a moment. “I think we’re friends but we’re not friends with Logan. So yes, this is for Virgil,” Roman decided, nodding to himself.

“We’re friends? Since when?” Pat asked, very confused.

Roman shrugged. “Monday was when it became an actual thing, but we’ve always been the most friendly towards each other,” Roman explained.

“Okay, that’s valid. How is this all going to work then?” Pat asked. 

Roman grinned and then launched into a long-winded explanation of his plan to his new official friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Roman decided to play into his love of drama and theatre for this particular meetup. He was wearing a full-blown cloak and sunglasses even though it was nine o’clock at night. The person he was going to recruit rounded the corner. 

“You called?” Remy Vancamp’s voice asked, pulling off his own pair of sunglasses.

“Yes. I need your help in figuring out who did all this. You know, who told on you and Virgil,” Roman explained, looking at Remy over his sunglasses.

“Tempting. Why enlist me and not Virgil? He’s your friend after all,” Remy asked, very confused.

“He’s not ready for that yet. Boy drama, you know? But I know he wants it, and what better way to restore your friendship than to help figure out who did this?” Roman stated, giving Remy a knowing look.

Remy sighed. “I do miss him. Also, boy drama? I didn’t know he’d gotten involved with anyone that way.” 

“He hasn’t,” Roman said. “But a certain someone wants to be involved with Virgil and he’s not taking kindly to the news of you two… doing things.”

“This certain someone wouldn’t happen to be Logan Brooks, would they?” Remy asked, already knowing the answer.

“How’d you know?” Roman responded, honestly shocked.

“Logan isn’t as sneaky as he thinks he is. He’s had a crush on Virgil that’s been on the downlow for years. It’s gotten more intense recently and Virgie probably still doesn’t know. His obliviousness is as endearing as it is annoying,” Remy explained, fond smile on his face as he shook his head.

Roman cocked his head to the side. “I never knew you were so perceptive.”

Remy laughed. “Please. I’m as big a gossip as you, I just keep things to myself more times than not. Besides, it’s fun to have secret weapons for if/when I need them.”

“Point taken,” Roman said. “So, what do you say? Are you in?”

“Why not?”


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit longer than normal. I've been having a bit of a rough time lately and one of the first things to go was my nonexistent posting schedule. That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter!! I'm thinking 3-5 more chapters before this is done.

It had been a month and Roman, Pat, and Remy were no closer to figuring out who had told on Remy and Virgil than they had been before. All three of them found this to be extremely frustrating and they didn’t know what to do. They were having a team meeting of sorts during lunch when Virgil found out about their scheme.

“Hey, guys,” Virgil said as he sat down, not noticing Remy at first.

“Hey, Virge,” Pat responded.

“Whatcha up to?” Virgil asked, pulling his lunch out of his bag.

That’s when Virgil noticed Remy. He stared at his former friend for a moment before he snapped himself out of it.

“What are you doing here?” Virgil asked, very confused.

Remy looked panicked for a moment. “You remember that whole revenge plot thing I asked you about a month ago?” Roman stepped in.

“Yeah, what about it? I thought you said nothing was going to happen until I was ready for it,” Virgil said, looking at his friends warily.

“I may or may have not decided that it would be better to start sooner rather than later,” Roman responded, smiling sheepishly at his friend.

“You know what? I’m not even mad. Can I join?” Virgil replied, surprising the three boys.

“It’s not my place to stop you,” Roman stated.

They launched into an explanation of what they had been up to for the past month and how they’d been unsuccessful. They let Virgil go through everything they’d done so far with a fine-tooth comb so he could help come up with a new strategy. Together they figured out that the biggest issue they had was they hadn’t really talked to anyone because they didn’t want Virgil to find out that they’d gone behind his back. Virgil was slightly exasperated about that, but he heard about the revenge plot from them before it got out of hand, so he wasn’t too mad. They decided that they needed to talk to people if they actually wanted to find the source of the information.

“Where would we even begin? This is a small school, but there’s still so many people we could potentially need to talk to,” Remy asked, looking very overwhelmed by the potential task in front of them.

“There’s six people that are responsible for spreading all of North Gateway’s gossip, at least one of them has to be the original source or know who the original source is,” Roman said. 

Everyone nodded in agreement. That plan made the most sense and therefore that was the one they were going to go with. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That afternoon, Remy and Virgil walked home from school together for the first time in two months. They walked in silence, not knowing what to say to each other. Remy kept looking at Virgil. His friend had changed so much over the past two months. Not only had Virgil changed his style, but his demeanor had changed as well. Being friends with Roman and Pat had given him such a huge confidence boost, and Remy was happy for him.

“You’ve changed a lot over the past two months. Not in a bad way, you’re just more confident than you used to be,” Remy stated.

Virgil laughed. “I’m still the same anxious mess I’ve always been, Rem.”

“Maybe, but you’re handling life better than you used to. I’m glad,” Remy replied, giving Virgil a small smile.

Virgil smiled back at him. “How have you been with everything? It all changed so quickly, I feel like I was practically ripped from you and I hate that,” Virgil said.

“I’ve missed you a lot. I have other friends and I’ve been hanging out with them and stuff, but no one is you,” Remy explained.

“I feel the same way about you. I appreciate Pat and Ro, but they’re not you. Well, Roman is kinda you but brighter,” Virgil responded, laughing a little.

Remy giggled. “Accurate.”

“What do you think of Roman and Pat? You’ve been hanging out with them for about a month now,” Virgil asked.

“I like them a lot. I’m honestly kind of surprised that they’re both really nice people. They care about you a lot, and anyone who does that is good in my book,” Remy replied.

“I know what you mean about the whole nice thing. I thought they were all just faking it at first, but it turns out they weren’t. Even Logan is a genuinely nice person which is frickin bizarre if I think about it for long enough,” Virgil said.

“What happened with him anyway? I know we haven’t talked a lot since we last talked, but he hasn’t done anything with anyone lately,” Remy asked.

Virgil sighed. “He was really upset about what happened at the party and then he heard about us. He acted like I cheated on him or something, it was so confusing. I’ve tried to talk to him a few times since then, but he hasn’t answered my messages or anything. I think he might’ve blocked my number.”

“Let me see,” Remy said, motioning for Virgil’s phone. He tapped the screen a few times before shaking his head. “He didn’t block your number, just your Facebook and Instagram.”

“That’s good I guess,” Virgil said, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I didn’t know I’d hurt him! I wish I could get him to listen to me.”

“Trust me, honey, something will come through for you. You’ll talk to him again soon,” Remy replied.

“I hope so,” Virgil responded, waving goodbye to Remy when they reached his house.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Over the next week, Roman, Remy, Pat, and Virgil tried tracking down the six gossipers, but for some reason they couldn’t find any of them. This struck Roman as odd because he never had trouble finding them in the past when he needed to know something. They knew better than to ignore Roman and Logan, Pat as well but he didn’t usually go gossip fishing.

Since the boys couldn’t find the people they wanted outside of class, they figured they should go through each of their classes and see if any of them could be found there. Surprisingly, Virgil was the only one who shared a class with the six people in question. He had English with a girl called Malorie. Virgil had seen Malorie in class the past few weeks, so the plan was he would sit next to her and then confront her about the whole rumor situation.

Virgil was understandably a bit nervous to be the one who was going to do this because he has no experience with confronting people in this way and he was asking after a rumor about his sex life. It didn’t help that he shared the class with Logan as well and even though they weren’t speaking right now, Virgil knew that Logan watched him constantly whenever they were in the same room. Surely nothing could go wrong, right?

He voiced his concerns to his friends and Roman gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I understand where you’re coming from. Tell you what, if this fails spectacularly, we’ll come up with another plan but for now this is our best shot,” Roman said.

Virgil nodded at him, knowing he was right. Besides, if all else failed, he could go hide for the rest of class and then pretend that it never happened. Virgil just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Virgil decided to try talking to Malorie on Thursday. Thursday came much more quickly than he was expecting, and then seventh period English came even quicker. He saw Malorie sitting in the middle of the room towards the back with one empty seat next to her. Virgil claimed it.

Class was supposed to start in a couple minutes, and Virgil didn’t know what they were going to be doing in class today, so he figured it was now or never. Virgil took a deep breath and took the plunge.

“Hey, Malorie! How’ve you been?” Virgil greeted, putting on a friendly smile and tried not to show how nervous he was.

Malorie looked at him warily, “I’ve been alright, you?”

“Life could be better,” Virgil responded.

“Why are you talking to me? We don’t do that,” Malorie said, suspicion clouding her features.

“I know we don’t, but I need some information and I figured you would have it,” Virgil stated.

“That depends on what information you’re looking for,” Malorie said.

“Who told you about me and Remy? I know it’s been a month, but it’s really been bothering me and I need to know who told on us because neither of us told anyone about it,” Virgil explained.

Malorie gave him an astonished look. “I thought he found out because Remy was talking about it with some friends in the hallway. If you guys didn’t tell anyone about it then I have no idea how he heard about it.”

“Who’s he?” Virgil asked.

“I told him I wouldn’t tell you, but I think you should know so I will. I heard about you and Remy through Declan Williams,” Malorie said, looking apologetic.

“Of course it was him! He’s been trying to get me to join the GSA for months now. He probably thought he had to back me into a corner,” Virgil replied. Virgil forgot that Declan lives across the street from him, he must have seen Remy and Virgil out the window and made assumptions. Part of him relaxed because if the whole sleeping together thing was just assumptions from Declan, then maybe he and Remy didn’t actually do that. After all, there was no evidence of sex, just lack of clothing and some hickeys. That made Virgil feel ten times better about life.

“Thanks for telling me, I appreciate it,” Virgil said, throwing a smile her way.

“No problem. Consider it as my apology for spreading it around,” Malorie replied.

“Sure,” Virgil agreed, turning to face the front so he could focus on class.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Logan had been listening to the whole exchange between Virgil and Malorie. Of course he had, he missed Virgil a lot and he wanted to be vaguely aware of what he was up to. As much as he missed Virgil, he couldn’t bring himself to speak to Virgil because of how upset he was over the Virgil and Remy thing. Logan was also upset over how close Virgil had gotten to Roman and Pat, and he just couldn’t bring himself out of his pity party for long enough to make things right with Virgil. He knew he was acting as though Virgil cheated on him, but Logan couldn’t bring himself to care at the time. Recently, he had feared that it would be too late to try and be friends with Virgil again, but then he heard how relieved Virgil sounded when he found out that Declan Williams was the one who leaked the whole Virgil and Remy situation. Logan decided he needed to know why Virgil was so relieved about that, and the only way to do that was to be on speaking terms with Virgil again. He decided to message him.

LB: You up for a talk?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Malorie is my OC. She kinda has to be because I've completely diverged from the original storyline at this point because I didn't have a good representative for McKenzie and I didn't want to completely rip her from the movie without someone to stand in as her. Anyway, I hope you've been enjoying the story!!


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boys being vindictive.

Virgil was about to walk out of class when he got the text from Logan. He immediately whipped around to look at Logan, extremely surprised and a little scared.

Logan saw Virgil staring at him and decided to approach him. He offered Virgil a small smile.

“You got my text?” Logan asked even though he knew the answer.

“Yeah,” Virgil replied, looking at Logan warily.

“Walk with me,” Logan said, heading in the direction of the courtyard. Luckily for the two of them, they both had a free period, so Virgil had no qualms over seeing what Logan had to say.

“You know I never answered your question, right?” Virgil said, coming to a stop next to the bench Logan decided to sit down on.

“You followed me,” Logan stated, smirking at Virgil. 

Virgil nodded his head. “Point taken.”

Logan looked down at his lap. “I wanted to talk about everything that’s happened. I know I didn’t handle it well, but I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”

“I will admit that it would’ve been nice if you hadn’t had a complete meltdown. I really needed support from the people I cared about at the time and I wasn’t expecting that reaction from you. It was honestly kinda weird,” Virgil said. 

“Yeah,” Logan replied, starting to look a bit uncomfortable. Logan knew how he reacted sent a very clear message to Virgil, he just hoped that Virgil didn’t hold it against him.

“I hate that this got out. Remy and I agreed to never speak of it again and then Declan Williams decided to fuck it all up. I swear there has to be something wrong with that kid,” Virgil stated, looking vindictive.

Logan gave Virgil a small smile. “I think he’s hiding something, so he exposes other people to keep the attention away from himself.”

“Seems legit,” Virgil replied. “Why are you bringing all of this up now?”

“Like I said before, I’m sorry for abandoning you when you needed me. I want to make it up to you and be friends again,” Logan explained.

“I don’t completely forgive you yet, but I’m willing to try the whole friendship thing again. What do you mean by making it up to me?” Virgil asked.

“If you’re up for it, we can see if we can expose Declan the way he exposed you,” Logan said, his face breaking into an evil grin.

“Especially if he’s gay. That kid needs a taste of his own medicine so he doesn’t ever do it again,” Virgil responded, also getting excited about the prospect of getting back at Declan. 

“Wanna come over to my house so we can come up with a plan?” Logan asked.

“Sure, I’ll go get my stuff,” Virgil replied.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Virgil and Logan spent the next couple of weeks trying to dig up dirt on Declan. Declan was pretty good at keeping to himself online and at school, so the boys decided they needed to try some more invasive tactics. 

They decided to play spies from Virgil’s house. Virgil and Declan had grown up across the street from each other, but they never became friends. Virgil had bonded with Remy at such a young age that he never felt the need to interact with the neighborhood kids, and there existed a time when Declan wasn’t all up in everyone’s business. They were always near each other, but very distant at the same time. Virgil was thankful for the proximity now because he could watch Declan’s house from the comfort of his bedroom.

Virgil and Logan had been camping out by the window for the past four days for at least two hours and so far, nothing of interest had happened. Virgil was just about to call it quits when he saw someone moving around next to the house. The person was Declan climbing onto the tire swing he had, and he was getting pretty cozy with another boy on the tire swing.

“Logan, look!” Virgil said, shaking Logan’s shoulder to get his attention.

Logan looked up from his reading to see what Virgil was pointing at. As soon as he looked up, Declan kissed the boy he was sharing the tire swing with. Logan’s jaw dropped.

“I know we were kidding with the whole ‘he’s totally gay thing,’ but holy shit,” Logan said. 

Virgil nodded in agreement. “It’s weird that he’s not out though. He’s the president of the school’s GSA and he’s desperate for LGBTQ members. I’m so confused.”

“Me too. We’ll have to confront him about it. The question is should we do it publicly or give him some of the curtesy he failed to give you,” Logan said.

“I’ll see what Pat, Ro, and Rem think. They’ll want to get in on this no matter how we choose to do it,” Virgil replied, pulling out his phone.

All three of the boys replied to Virgil’s text within minutes.

“Roman and Remy are ready to make this as public as possible, Pat thinks we should show him kindness but give him no choice about coming out. He says that if we’re nice to him about it he’ll be less likely to do something like this in the future,” Virgil said, relaying the texts to Logan.

Logan thought about it for a moment. “I’m as big of a drama queen as Roman and Remy, but I know you aren’t about that life. If we’re ‘nice about it’ then you can protect yourself and still force him out of the closet.”

“I like that idea. We also wouldn’t be stooping to his level which I think is important because I know I wouldn’t care about something like this if he hadn’t trashed me first,” Virgil said.

“We’ll still do a big confrontation though, all five of us. He won’t do what we want if there aren’t enough people forcing him to do it,” Virgil stated. Logan nodded.

“I’ll make a group chat. We’ve got yet more planning to do,” Virgil said in a slightly exasperated voice. Even though he was tired of planning, Virgil was excited to be in the last stage of the revenge plan. Virgil was desperate for this to all be over with.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Virgil was feeling more nervous than usual. He was ready to bring Declan to task and put this whole mess behind him, but that involved confrontation. There was nothing Virgil hated more than confrontation. He was thankful for making the decision to ambush Declan in a lowkey setting early on, he wasn’t sure he could deal with confronting Declan in a place like the courtyard or the cafeteria. Virgil was also glad his friends were going to be there to back him up.

Planning this whole thing brought the five boys closer together. This made Virgil happy for many reasons. First, it meant he finally had Remy back, and Virgil didn’t have the words to describe how relieved and content he felt about having Remy’s constant presence back. Another thing Virgil found amusing was that Roman, Pat, and Logan made quite the trio. They were scary when working toward a common goal, and there were many times over the past couple weeks where they forgot why they decided to hate each other in the first place. The thing that made Virgil the happiest was that he finally felt relaxed around more people than just Remy and his parents. Virgil had trouble trusting people most of the time and he struggles with feeling calm around most people, so the fact that he was relaxed and being himself around Roman, Pat, and Logan was a huge step forward for him. It made him feel better.

Anyway, months of planning had all culminated into this day. Virgil thinks Roman is the most excited of all of them, but then again he loves drama. 

The boys found Declan at his locker ten minutes before first period. If they did this right, they could get Declan to out himself at lunch. It was the perfect time to make a move.

They stood behind Declan’s locker door so they could surprise him when he shut it, just like all those teen movies. It had the desired effect; after Declan closed his locker he jumped a little when he saw Logan, Roman, Pat, Remy, and Virgil. He composed himself quickly, putting on his usual smirk.

“The five gays of North Gateway. Have you finally decided to join the GSA?” Declan asked.

“You know what’s funny about that, Declan? You claim the group has no LGBTQ members, but last time I checked, there was at least one person who swings that way,” Logan said as the boys moved around Declan to box him in.

“If there is, they aren’t out yet. I honestly can’t imagine who it’d be,” Declan responded, starting to look very nervous.

“Yeah, I think it’s kinda weird he’s not out, especially since he’s the president,” Pat stated. 

Declan whipped around to glare at Pat. “How do you know about that?”

“The same way you found out about Virgie and me. He spied on you from across the street,” Remy explained, giving Declan a wicked grin.

Declan narrowed his eyes at him. “You can’t prove anything, no one will believe you.”

Roman laughed. “Are you sure about that? People will believe anything around here.”

“Especially if it comes from me,” Logan added.

Declan sighed. They had a good point. “Okay, fine. You got me. Can I do something to keep you quiet?”

“We’ll be quiet if you speak up,” Roman said.

“What do you mean?” Declan asked.

“Out yourself to the entire school at lunch today,” Virgil said.

Declan blinked at him. “What if I don’t want to?”

“You think I wanted to be out? The only reason I’m here is because you took that choice from me, it’s only fair that you don’t get that either,” Virgil explained.

“You better agree to this because you’re not getting out of it,” Pat said. 

Declan sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. Can I go now?”

“You have to promise not to out anyone in the future. No one likes being kicked out of the closet, you should know that better than anybody,” Virgil said, blocking Declan’s path.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Declan responded, trying to brush past him. 

Virgil grabbed his arm. “I’m serious, Declan. You don’t get to do that.”

“Hypocrite say what?” Declan said, smirking at him.

“I wouldn’t even be doing this if you hadn’t done it first! That’s not even the same thing!” Virgil exclaimed.

“Okay! I’ll make your stupid promise. It’s not like you can hold me to it anyway,” Declan grumbled, clearly put out by the whole situation.

“That’s all we needed you to say, honey. See you at lunch!” Remy said, blowing Declan a kiss. 

Declan gave him a look of disgust before practically running to his first class. 

“Don’t worry, gurls. I have fourth period with him, I’ll make sure he’s there,” Remy said, giving them a mischievous grin.

“Don’t forget to make a dramatic entrance,” Roman said, linking arms with Remy.

“Oh you’ll love it,” Remy replied, walking off with Roman.

“How long until they’re dating?” Pat asked.

“I give them two weeks tops,” Virgil responded, grinning at Pat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Logan, Roman, Virgil, and Pat made sure to get a table with a good view of the door. They all may or may not have cut out of class early to get there, but what their teachers didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Besides, this was going to be totally worth it.

About ten minutes into the lunch period, Remy marched Declan in and made a huge show of getting them on top of a table.

Remy cleared his throat loudly. “People of North Gateway! Our very own Declan Williams, president of the GSA, has a very special announcement for you all!” Remy said, flashing the crowd a grin.

The people in the cafeteria quieted down, wanting to know what Declan was going to say and why he was giving Remy a death glare. Remy gestured to the crowd and Declan sighed.

“The GSA finally has an LGBTQ member,” Declan said.

One of Declan’s friends gasped. “Really? Who is it, Dee?” she asked.

“Me. I’m gay,” Declan stated, not looking at anyone. He turned to Remy, “Can we get down now?”

“Of course, sweetheart, wouldn’t want you fall and break your neck,” Remy said, jumping off the table.

The room erupted into conversation after Declan’s admission. His behavior since middle school suddenly made so much sense now, and there were a whole bunch of people who weren’t happy with him. A small group of such people were ganging up on Declan, and he didn’t look too happy about it. Virgil smiled and pointed it out to the rest of the boys. Turns out Declan’s punishment for his actions was only just beginning. 

“Serves him right,” Roman said as they watched Declan being led out of the cafeteria. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

“Paying for your actions is a good thing. Builds character or whatever,” Pat stated.

Virgil laughed. “Sure, Pat, that’s what we’ll call it.”

The boys continued joking around and relishing in their victory. It was nice that they didn’t have to worry about Declan or any potential schemes. No one would dare to touch them after this.

As they walked out, Logan pulled Virgil back. “Walk with me?”

“We have class in five minutes,” Virgil stated.

“Let’s skip, we deserve it,” Logan responded, pulling Virgil toward the door. Virgil found that he didn’t have the heart to stop him, so the next thing he knew he was in Logan’s car and being taken off of North Gateway’s campus.

They pulled up in the mall parking lot. Virgil looked at Logan and raised his eyebrows. Logan smiled at him.

“Frozen yogurt?” he asked.

“Sure,” Virgil responded.

They went into the shop and got their treats. They ended up sitting at a table by the window and were silent for a few minutes as they ate.

“Have you decided whether or not you’re going to prom?” Logan asked.

“I’ll go if someone asks me,” Virgil replied.

Logan nodded and the conversation lapsed into silence. Virgil looked down at his food and when he looked back up at Logan, he caught him staring. Logan blushed and looked at his lap.

“You good, buddy?” Virgil asked, slightly concerned.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I just have a question,” Logan said.

“Shoot,” Virgil responded.

Logan squirmed in his seat a little bit. “Would you go to prom with me?”

Virgil stared at him. He honestly wasn’t expecting to be asked to prom, especially by Logan Brooks of all people. When he stopped to think about it, he realized Logan probably liked him and that’s why he asked him. So even though he knew the answer, he just had to ask.

“As a friend or a date?”

“If you’re okay with it, I’d like to take you as my date,” Logan said. 

Virgil thought about it for a moment. If he was honest with himself, he liked Logan a lot. Virgil really appreciated his presence in his life over the past few months and he had come to be really good friends with him. Virgil also thought about how much he missed Logan and how hurt he was when Logan put distance between them after the Remy thing. Not to mention the fact that he’d always thought Logan was hot, even before he really understood what that meant. 

“I’d like that,” Virgil said, giving Logan a small smile.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. I was planning on finishing this in March and I just lost the motivation for writing this chapter, then college started kicking my ass and I honestly haven't had that much time to write until now. But it's here, and it's done, and it's one monster of a chapter to make up for how long I've been gone. I hope you all enjoy it!!

Virgil took a deep breath. He could do this. He could be honest with his parents about who he was going to prom with. Worst case scenario was he was kicked out but he could always go live with Remy. It would be fine. 

The moment Virgil walked into the living room he panicked. He was just about to leave but his stepmom noticed him.

“Hey, honey, do you need anything?” his stepmom asked, looking a bit concerned.

Virgil knew his stepmom could tell he was extremely nervous which meant he couldn’t put it off. Shit.

“Uh, yeah. I was wondering if I could talk to you guys about something?”

His dad turned off the TV and turned to give his full attention to his son. “Of course. What do you need?”

Virgil started playing with the hem of his shirt. “So you know how I’m going to prom with Logan, right?”

His parents nodded. Virgil took a deep breath.

“We’re not going as friends because he’s my date. I know he’s a boy, but that’s what I like, boys. Or I guess I should say men, men my own age because the alternatives are kind of creepy. I don’t care if you don’t like it because I’m not gonna change for you or anyone else. Besides, I read somewhere that Abraham Lincoln was gay and he was, like, the best Republican ever. You guys should probably say something so I can stop saying things,” Virgil trailed off, completely aware and totally embarrassed about the fact that he just rambled. 

His parents looked at each other briefly. “Virgil, honey, we know,” his dad finally said.

“You, what?” Virgil replied.

“We’ve known for years. Although, I don’t think the stuff you were saying about Lincoln was completely substantiated,” his dad said, giving Virgil a smile.

Virgil blinked at them. “How did you know? I wasn’t that obvious, was I?”

“Let’s just say you weren’t always consistent with clearing the internet history,” his stepmom said.

“Don’t worry, honey, it’s okay that you’re gay. So what you’re totally allergic to the lady parts? That’s fine. Just be safe and take care of yourself, okay kiddo?” his dad said.

Virgil nodded, slightly horrified his dad had just explained homosexuality the way he had. “You know, I could be bi,” Virgil said.

His parents laughed at him. “Sure, whatever you say, honey,” his dad said.

Virgil nodded again. “I’m gonna go to bed now. Goodnight!” he exclaimed before rushing back up the stairs. He was very glad it was over and that his parents accepted him. Now to get through prom without any major disasters.

Virgil’s parents watched him run back upstairs. 

“That boy is definitely not bi,” his stepmom said.

“If he’s bi anything, he’s bilingual. I won’t believe anything else,” his dad responded, both of them laughing affectionately about their son’s attempt to appease them. They didn’t care, they were just glad that Virgil finally felt comfortable enough to be open about it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Virgil was trying to get out of the house before his stepmom started taking pictures. They were already almost late for their dinner reservation as it was, he and Logan would never get to dinner or prom if his stepmom got to them. 

Virgil was about to shut the door when his stepmom caught the door. She was holding a camera.

“Not so fast, young man. I need to document this! It’s your first date!”

Virgil sighed. “I’ll go get Logan.”

Virgil got Logan out of his car and he led Logan to his stepmom’s favorite picture taking spot. Virgil just stared at her for a moment.

“You two look so cute together! Now, strike a pose, I have to get at least ten pictures,” his stepmom said.

Logan smirked and pulled Virgil into the stereotypical prom couple pose. Virgil blushed as his stepmom squealed and started snapping away with the camera. Logan noticed Virgil’s discomfort and turned him around. He pulled out a clear box and handed it to Virgil. It was a boutonniere.

“I thought we could match,” Logan said, pointing to his lapel. It was a simple boutonniere, a red rose with some baby’s breath wrapped in a white ribbon. 

Virgil smiled at him. “Thanks, I love it.”

“Could I put it on?” Logan asked.

“Sure, I’ll go grab some safety pins,” Virgil replied, dashing into the house.

He returned quickly and Logan went to attach the boutonniere, his stepmom taking pictures the entire time. 

“Can we go? We’ll be late for our dinner reservation if we don’t leave now,” Virgil explained. 

“Of course, honey. Thank you for indulging me! Have a good night! Use protection!” his stepmom replied.

“Aaaaaand we’re out,” Virgil said, going bright red and pulling Logan towards his car.

Logan laughed. “She cares, you know.”

“Yeah, she cares a whole lot about embarrassing me,” Virgil replied, getting into the car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour and a half later found the five boys in North Gateway’s gym which had been transformed into a dark room with bright colored lights and covered in blue taffeta. It took Virgil a moment to remember the reason there was no formal prom theme because he had largely ignored the prom court drama, but he now regretted that when he saw the nomination board.

There were three pairings that people could vote for; the quarterback of the football team and the head cheerleader because stereotypes are important, Declan and his friend Viola because Declan had somehow managed to gain influence with the prom court pairings, and then Virgil and Logan. 

Virgil nudged Logan. “Did you know this was happening?”

Logan blushed. “Would you be mad if I said yes?”

Virgil desperately didn’t want to be mad. He wanted to believe that the only reason Logan knew was because he was one of those people that knew about everything that happened at North Gateway. He wanted to believe that this wasn’t the primary reason Logan had asked him to prom, but Virgil couldn’t help thinking about how Logan coveted status symbols and how he would do anything to keep his station at school. Sure, he may have calmed down a little bit on that front over the past few months, but Virgil had watched Logan do some pretty nasty things to people over the years. What if Virgil was just his last hurrah before he graduated?

Virgil was out of the gym and in the bathrooms on the other side of the school before Logan even knew what was happening. The other three boys turned around to see Virgil slipping out of the gym and Logan looking like he was about to cry. 

“What the fuck did you just do?” Remy asked, voice low and threatening.

“I don’t know. I just told him I knew about the prom court nominations,” Logan replied.

“Did you tell him about them once you knew who they nominated?” Remy asked.

“No. I thought he knew,” Logan responded.

Remy gave him an unimpressed look. “I see. Well, I’m going to go after Virgie and if you want to see him later, you will not follow me. Understood?”

Once Logan nodded Remy gave him a little shove and took off after Virgil. 

Roman shook his head and wandered toward one of the tables that was scattered around the room, Pat immediately following leaving Logan in the middle of the gym, unsure of what to do.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Virgie? You in here, babe?” Remy asked as he pushed the door to the bathroom open. Virgil gave him a sniffle in response.

“Oh Virgie. Would you like a hug?”

Virgil nodded and fell into Remy’s arms, crying into his shoulder.

“Shh. It’s okay. I’m sure he didn’t mean it the way you think he did,” Remy soothed.

“But what if he did? What if he was just using me so he could be considered for the prom court? He’s been trying to prove he’s more popular than Roman and Pat for years, he could just be using me to prove a point to them. You can’t rule that out, Rem,” Virgil said.

“No, you can’t, but do you really think he’d do that to you? He’s been making googly eyes at you for years, and all three of them have mellowed out so much since you started hanging out together,” Remy responded.

Virgil sighed as he pulled away from Remy. He braced himself against the sink. “I guess you’re right, but I can’t help to think about the what ifs. I’ve never wanted to date anyone before and open myself up in that way. You’re the only person other than my parents I’ve ever been comfortable around before becoming friends with them. It’s scary, Rem. They’re the kind of people who have ulterior motives. Just because they haven’t done anything yet doesn’t mean they won’t, especially Logan. What if I’m wrong about him?”

“I don’t think you are. We’ve both watched him use people, and that is something we’ve always been able to pick up on. Even when you first came out, they weren’t trying to use you. If I thought they had been, I would’ve made a huge effort to pull you away from them,” Remy said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Virgil responded.

“Guess so? Honey, you know I would take a bullet for you any day,” Remy replied, looking slightly offended.

Virgil laughed, “I know, I know. I’m just worried.”

“What else is new?” 

Virgil threw him a glare. Remy laughed, “Seriously though, talk to him. I’m sure he didn’t mean it in the way you might think he did.”

“Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ll go talk to him.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Virgil and Remy came back into the gym just as the principal walked onto the stage with the DJ. The music cut out and as a microphone was turned on.

“Hello students of North Gateway! I hope you all are having a good time tonight!” the principal said.

The crowd gave a weak shout of agreement. 

The principal gave the students a tight-lipped smile. “So, it’s time to announce this year’s prom court. Our nominees are Laurent Hilliker and Kaila Stevens, Declan Williams and Viola Regant, and Virgil Daniels and Logan Brooks! This year’s winners are…”

The DJ played a drumroll track. There was a cymbal crash as the principal opened the envelope with the winners’ names on the inside. 

“Virgil Daniels and Logan Brooks!”

Virgil shot Remy a panicked look. Remy gave him a small shove toward Logan and they made their way onto the stage.

The principal smiled at them as they came onto the stage. “Congratulations you two! Anything you’d like to say to the audience?”

Logan nodded and he took the microphone after his crown was placed on his hand. Virgil waited off to the sign, very curious about what Logan was going to say.

“I’m sure most of you aren’t very surprised that I’m one of the people standing in front of you wearing this crown, but it wasn’t something I was completely expecting. Sure, I knew I’d be nominated, but did I think I’d win? Not really. I honestly thought Roman Winters or Pat Osgood would be the person you guys would choose. They’ve always been more approachable and people actually like them.

“I don’t have that because I’ve had on this mask since middle school, showing the world ruthless indifference to everything that happened to me and those who were around me. I never had any true friends, as many of you know I used people to meet my goals. But then something happened a few months ago that really changed me.

“Virgil Daniels came out and I felt compelled to be around him and absorb him into my crowd. Pat and Roman were right there with me trying to do the same thing, but there was something about Virgil that made us change. He brought us together and gave us the opportunity to be friends. He was also comfortable with being himself, and that really encouraged me to do the same thing. This leaves me with where I’m at today, a more authentic person who is finally ready to be honest with himself and the people around him. 

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m really gay and I’m finally ready for you all to know.” 

Logan gave the microphone back to the DJ and got off the stage. Virgil followed him, kind of dazed and not entirely sure what to do with that information.

Their friends were all at the bottom of the stage smiling at them. Remy was beaming and immediately drew Virgil into a huge hug. 

“Who would’ve thought my Virgie would be a part of the prom court?! We have to document this!” Remy exclaimed.

“Do we? Are we sure this is necessary?” Virgil asked, not particularly up for being in a photo right now.

“Of course it’s necessary!” Roman replied as he whipped out his cellphone, taking selfies with various members of the group.

“Now we need one of you together!” Pat said. 

Roman nodded in agreement. “Come on you two. Picture time!”

Logan blushed and put his arm around Virgil. Roman started snapping photos of the two before asking Virgil to smile. Virgil rolled his eyes and complied. Pat squealed.

“You guys are so cute! Seriously, when will you start dating? Roman and Remy already have,” Pat said.

Roman and Remy nodded in agreement. “He’s right. We’ve taken the plunge, when will you?” Roman asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“That’s up to Virgil. I’d love to if he wants to,” Logan said, looking at Virgil.

Virgil blushed. “Are you sure? I’ve never done anything like that before and this is me we’re talking about.”

“I wouldn’t want to date you if you were anyone else,” Logan explained.

Virgil’s face went from pink to bright red. “Well if you aren’t against it, I’m up for trying it.”

Logan beamed at him and pulled Virgil close, twirling him around. He put Virgil down and looked at his lips, question in his eyes. Virgil nodded and their lips met.

Virgil realized something in that moment. The closet and high school are very similar, they both make you be something that you’re not, and you become so scared of people seeing you for who you really are that you stay in that dark place. The dark may seem safer and more comfortable, but once you leave that closet or high school, the world is so much brighter and accepting than you were expecting that you wonder why you didn’t leave sooner. Virgil was glad that he was forced to leave when he did, he’s gained so many good things from being more true to himself, like this boy in his arms right now. Virgil couldn’t help but smile, being honest and authentic wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's over!! I can't believe I've actually finished this, but here we are. Thank you all so much for all of the nice comments and kudos that you have left on this work!! I honestly don't think I would've finished this if it hadn't been so positively received, so thank you for your kindness and encouragement!! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I appreciate it more than you know!! <3
> 
>  
> 
> The whole Virgil coming out to his parents scene is ripped straight from the movie, it was too good not to use. I also want to take this moment to mention that G.B.F. was taken off of Netflix and that is not a decision I support. Not impressed, Netflix, not impressed.


End file.
